


Rebirth

by Asigl



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Action, Adventure, F/F, F/M, Mystery, Other, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:26:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 50,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4047868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asigl/pseuds/Asigl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her lungs burned as she took in a breath, a mechanical voice echoing in her ears. "Guardian, time to wake up Guardian!" Reborn into a world destroyed, Freya must find her way now as a Guardian to fight the Darkness, even if she is not prepared. 700 years is a long time to be dead, and the crucible is filled with fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Destiny, just the OC(s).

Her head throbbed painfully as she took in a breath of air, her lungs feeling like they were on fire as she choked out a groan.

"Guardian… Time to wake up Guardian." Eyes opened to a visor in front of her face, the transparent sheet of what seemed to be glass showing a clear blue sky above her. A small grey star like object floated into her view, the small blue light that was it's eye darting around slightly as it's body moved.

"It worked." The mechanical voice droned out. "You're alive! I can't believe it, there is so much for you to learn."

"What…*cough*… What are you talking about? Who?" A roar of something sounded in the distance and the little star turned in the air, it's body shifting slightly before it turned back to her and zoomed to her face.

"There isn't time. Come on, I need to get you inside. It isn't safe out here. Can you move?" The girl nodded slightly, rolling over to her stomach as her hand went through what looked to be a rib cage. She looked up at the askew skull that it was attached to, a large hole in the head with a splintering emanating from it, and screamed. The ghost sighed and flew in front of her face again. "Stop it! Look, if you don't want to end up like him again then we have to get going."

It took several moments but the girl finally got on her feet shakily, following the little machine towards a large wall in the distance. She collapsed shortly after entering the rusted building against the wall, panting hard.

"We can't stay here."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have legs. Feels like I've been asleep…" The little star turned to her, it's body shifting down over it's mechanical eye in a semblance of concern.

"Yea about that… You weren't asleep." The girl looked at it from behind the visor, what? He continued as though reading her thoughts, mechanical eye staring into her face. "You were dead. Dead dead, like that skeleton."

"How…?"

"I'm a ghost…actually I'm your ghost now. I brought you back to life." The girl looked around the building, she was a skeleton? But then how long…. "Its been over seven hundred years, I didn't think I would be able to find someone like you."

"Seven…hundred…?" The girl felt faint and the ghost immediately got into her face as she put it in her hand.

"Hey! This isn't the time. Look, I'll explain more later, right now we have to get moving. This is Fallen territory, and you don't want to be found by them. Trust me."The girl took a heavy breath, nodding slowly. Just listen to the little ball of light, break down later…right?

The old maintenance tunnels creaked and groaned from the elements outside, along with a constant chatter of something as they made their way into the darkness. Eventually they made their way to a large open area filled with darkness and small glowing blue lights in the distance, the little star expanding his body out with what looked to be a field of energy that lit up the area around him as it looked around.

"The fallen thrive in the dark, we won't. I'll be right back, see if I can find some way to bring up some lights. Don't wander anywhere I wouldn't." The girl shrugged her arms at the Ghost as it floated away.

"Like I come with an attached night light like you do…" She muttered quietly.

"I'm more than a night light."She jumped slightly at the voice in her head, calming down after a moment as she noticed a small symbol at the top of her visor. It was just a comm system. "Besides, you try dealing with several hundred years of entropy in these aging systems and you tell me how to…."

"How to what?"

"Uh oh…" The lights started to come on down further in the complex, making it's way towards her area. Along the way the blue lights winked out, revealing themselves to be creatures clinging to the walls and pipes of the old systems. Several sets of inhuman roars and screeches echoed about her as the Ghost came rushing back. "They're coming!"

"I'm going to die…again."

"Not if I can help it." She turned as the Ghost hovered near a slowly opening cage door, it's light illuminating a battered rifle resting against the edge of a crate next to a skeleton in patchy and weathered combat fatigues. The ghost turned to her expectantly. "I hope you know how to use this thing, because we need it."

* * *

A shaky hand reloaded the rifle as the girl pulled back on the slide, loading the first round into the chamber of the rifle before letting the muzzle point down at the ground. Her eyes looked down to the creature next to her, it's once glowing eyes now dull and lifeless, at least the head was as it lay off to the side of the creature at an odd angle with a bullet hole in it's temple. The metal of the facility was cold as she sat against the wall, taking several breaths to calm herself. This isn't what she expected to be doing, to fight for her life against these aliens that seemed to be everywhere. Cautiously she peered around the corner of the wall her back was against, no movement save for the lazy spinning of a shadow of a ventilation fan in the ceiling.

"Sitting around isn't going to get us out of here anytime soon you know." Droned the mechanical voice inside her helmet, the girl let out a small scoff and pulled herself back around the corner, putting her head against the wall.

"It's not like I'm some solider you know. This is all getting to be too much."

"Would you rather be dead?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you're an asshole?" There was a pause before the ghost's voice came back a little indigently.

"I'm a Ghost, a highly sophisticated machine who just happened to also bring you back to life. Now I'm trying to help you get to safety, I think a little gratitude is deserved."

"I didn't ask to be brought back…" The girl muttered quietly. "How do you think I feel…"

Silence. The sounds of the rusted metal groaning against the wind and stress around them was the only sound before the girl stood slowly and lifted the rifle to her shoulder, looking down the sights as she turned the corner.

"Which way?"

"There's an ion drive signature in the hanger down the hall, it's faint but it could be our ticket out of here." She gave a small nod as her boot stepped over the corpse, making her way silently down the hall towards a set of loading bay doors. The metal was rusted in a half open position on one door while the other seemed to have been forced fully open as she crouched and carefully looked beyond. An object hung suspended from cables under an open rooftop that seemed to have been blown open than being originally open to the sky, it was the size of a small plane and shaped much the same.

"Is that it?"

"Yep, that's our ticket out of here."

"Looks like a piece of junk."

"I can make it work, don't worry." The Ghost reassured as she stepped under the door and into the impromptu hanger. The muzzle of the rifle swished back and forth as she scanned the hanger, nothing so far. As she neared the ship the Ghost materialized from wherever it had disappeared to, hovering up to the scrap of metal as it began to scan the ship.

"Well?"

"It's pretty beat up, and missing it's warp drive. Doesn't look like it will break orbit, but it should take us where we need to go for now." The girl gave a soft sigh, jumping when a sudden sound came from her left. A large dark hole was situated in the wall, an abandoned pipe of some kind that seemed to be a maintenance tunnel. She forced herself to take several breaths as she aimed her rifle at the tunnel, nothing but the heavy beating of her own heart and the sound of the wind moving past and against the building around her.

"Ghost?"

"Just a few more minutes." The mechanical voice said as he continued to go over the old ship. The girl took a step back from the tunnel entrance as the sound of metal scrabbling against concrete started to echo from within.

"Ghost."

"Almost there, don't worry." Glowing red eyes from the helmet of the alien sprung to life, moving slowly out of the tunnel, one of it's large arms gripping at the edge as two smaller ones dropped from the darkness of the ceiling above it. A screech like glass scraping against a chalkboard bellowed through the air followed by the sound of semiautomatic gunfire as the muzzle of the old rifle flashed to life. One of the smaller aliens fell quickly, her shots going wide as she aimed at the other before a large metal covered arm knocked her from her feet and sent her into a concrete pillar. Her shoulder screamed in pain, her eyes finding the problem quickly. A piece of rebar, once supporting the concrete, was now sticking out of her left shoulder coated in her blood.

A guttural laugh came from the helmet of the large alien that had thrown her, one of it's arms waving away the smaller dregs that came close, shouting out in it's language at them. The girl watched as it came close, then screamed in pain as her neck was in one of it's hands, dragging her up as the rebar bent up with her shoulder. She pulled at it's arm feebly with one hand, feeling the breath start to leave her as it let out a hiss before a word came that she could understand.

"Weak."

The word came lowly, mockingly, and like a switch that triggered deep within herself came a force that seemed to burn at her very core. It spread through her body like fire, traveling through her veins like a river of lava seeking an exit. She gave it one. The creature howled in pain as it's arm burst into fire from her touch before being blown back by an explosive wave of heat and flames. She sagged down as the force holding her up vanished, grinding her teeth in pain as the rebar held her up by the shoulder. Feebly she tried to pull herself up with her other hand, her feet trying to find a place to stand to release some of the pain when the large creature began to stand again. It gave a roar of anger as the large barrel of it's gun was leveled to her chest.

"Got it!" The ship beside her sprung to life, detaching itself from the ceiling as it hovered up in front of the creature and drew it's attention. A burst came from the gun. scoring the side of the ship as the Ghost's voice filtered into her helmet. "I'm bringing you in, let's get out of here."

A tingling sensation rippled through her body as her vision became white before she found herself sitting before a glowing panel of buttons and small screens, a larger view screen depicting the image of the hanger and of the creatures shooting at the ship. The image changed as the rusted metal and bursts of gunfire gave way to blue skies, the steady hum of the engines around her taking over what remained of her senses.

"That was close, almost didn't make it." The Ghost turned from the view screen, looking over the state of the girl as she gripped feebly at her bleeding shoulder. "Oh…that's not good… Hey, stay with me. Wake up!"

It's voice fell on deaf ears as the girl's head lolled to the side and her arm slumped to her lap, letting herself fall into silence.

* * *

The first thing her body felt was the firm yet giving material of what she was laying upon, then her left eye was pried open and a penlight was blinked on, effectively blinding her. Groaning she twisted her head away, the hand going away as her shoulder throbbed dully in pain.

"Good to see you awake Guardian. You were pretty beat up when your ghost brought you in, how do you feel?" She blinked her eyes as the room came into focus, dull grey-white walls and what seemed to be medical equipment met her eyes as she looked around.

"Where..?" Her voice came out scratchy, the bed began to move and raise her into a sitting position as a dark skinned hand held out a small cup of water to her lips. She took a generous amount in, raising her hand to grasp at the plastic cup on her own before it was pulled back.

"Easy there, don't want to have too much at once. Small sips." The man's voice said softly, waiting for a moment to see if she could hold the cup on her own before taking his hand away. "You lost a fair amount of blood, and from what your Ghost has told me, it seems you have had a rather rude awakening."

"I didn't say that." Droned the mechanical voice of the Ghost as it floated into her view in front of the doctor who held up a hand in a soothing motion as he regarded the Ghost.

"You can not expect her to be able to rationalize everything immediately without any explanation. Seven hundred years is still a long time, even for us now." He turned back to the girl, sitting on the edge of the medical bed as he gave her his attention, speaking softly. "My name is Doctor Gregory Mendez, I was one of those on duty at the time when you came in with that shoulder of yours. I know it may not seem like it, but I want to let you know that you will be alright, and I will help you to the best of my abilities to understand where you are now."

The girl gave a nod of understanding and he smiled warmly at her as she took another sip of water and cleared her throat. "Good, may I ask your name Guardian?"

"Freya. Freya Sinclair." Doctor Mendez gave a small nod, scribbling something down on a pad that was in his hand.

"Good, you remember. That's one step in helping new Guardians to cope with the stresses of coming back around."

"Coming back around? Is that your interpretation of being brought back to life, or just a witty comment." Freya replied bitterly, the doctor raising an eyebrow at her tone before he crossed his hands over the pad on his lap and looked to her.

"I apologize if I have offended you. I understand it must be tough to be brought back into all of this, I know of several guardians who have also been brought back in such a manner. All I can say is that you have to find some way to cope. If you wish to be bitter then that is your decision, but regardless of your feeling, you were brought back for a reason." She looked away from Doctor Mendez, the room growing silent save for the slight whirring and clicking of the Ghost as it's shell spun around it's core as it looked between the doctor and Freya. The doctor gave a sigh, standing from the bed as he walked around her bed towards the door. "I'll leave you two alone then for now. You should be ready to go within a day or two, I'll have a nurse bring you something to eat shortly. Don't feel upset if you can't keep it down, I know it won't be five star, but it's better than nothing after all this time."

Freya gave a small nod, her fingers gripping the plastic cup in her hand as she continued to look away. Doctor Mendez gave a nod in return, the automatic door hissing shut behind him as he stepped from the room. The Ghost hovered in front of Freya, it's blue eye looking over her pale skin and short black hair that stopped just below her chin. Faded green eyes looked up at it shortly after, and it had the decency to look concerned as much as it can.

"So…What do you want to know?"


	2. New Room Mate...Huh!?

"Miss Sinclair...GUARDIAN!" Freya jumped slightly, her mind focusing on the present rather then the past as the woman before her caught her attention once more. The dark skinned woman held a commanding presence in her eyes as she sat in her floor length coat holding a small tablet like pad in her hand out to Freya.

"Sorry..." She took the pad and the woman gave a small frown before schooling her features again.

"It's alright, in the future however you should try and minimize the wandering of your mind. It wouldn't do to have your abilities manifest themselves because you were thinking of something trivial, it could be a determent to those around you." Ikora Rey responded, giving a gesture to the data pad. " I've heard of your gift from your ghost, and pre loaded some tomes that you should study. It isn't often that we have a Sun-singer come to us so new, usually it takes several years of training and study to be able to wield the Traveler's light as such."

Freya gave a small nod, glancing down at the pad, quickly becoming familiar with the functions. Seven hundred years give or take, that was how long ago she had died. Now, here in the future, she was given a second chance and already it didn't feel like a good one. Freya had heard of the Traveler in the past, how it was found, the benefits it gave to mankind. Then, her life ended. A vacation with her sister and brother ending in an explosion while visiting the amazing cosmodrome of Russia, the last sights she remembered seeing being her family as she was thrown from the car she was in, and the blue sky as her vision faded to black. And then she woke up to a world destroyed. Maybe it was her brother's ribcage that her hand had passed through back there, she mused silently as she listened to the Vanguard speak of the facilities in the tower.

"I have also taken the liberty to arrange someplace for you to stay. You will be sharing an apartment here in the tower with another Guardian, I'm sure they will appreciate the company after all this time." Freya gave another numb nod, she was going to be released later today after a conscious two day stint in the medical facilities, five total if you count the days she wasn't awake. "Do you have any questions?...Miss Sinclair."

"Oh, no. Thank you Ma'am." Ikora cracked a small smirk, standing fluidly.

"Very well, I've left the information about your arrangements with your ghost. If you have any questions, or find yourself finishing those tomes then don't hesitate to come see me. I will try to answer any questions you may have." Another nod and she vanished behind the automatic door to Freya's room as the Ghost quickly zoomed in above her before the door hissed shut. It looked back at the door before looking down at Freya and letting itself hover down to her, looking at the pad on her lap.

"So, I see you've met the resident Warlock Vanguard." Freya reached out and flicked the ghost back slightly, the small grey plates around it's body ruffling slightly as it looked up at her. "What was that for?"

"Is there anyone else I need to see that you have talked to yet, or are you done?"

"I'm just trying to be helpful, think of me like a personal assistant."

"A frustrating ball of light more likely..." Freya muttered quietly as she looked down at the pad again, navigating to the first file on the list.

"I heard that." Freya said nothing as she read the journal like passages, the Ghost giving an imitation of sagging it's shoulders with it's shell as it hovered up to the window at the end of the room. Freya watched out of the corner of her eye as it's shell spun and clicked over it's small orb like body as though in thought. It spun around suddenly and came down to her face, forcing her attention. "I'm going to go see if I can get you out of here sooner, maybe that would make you less cranky."

"Hey!" Freya exclaimed as the Ghost shot off towards the door, disintegrating into particles of light as the door hissed open then closed quickly as it thought something was in front of it. Freya let out a small growl of frustration as she rubbed at her wrapped shoulder to dispel an itch, muttering quietly as she looked back down at the pad. "I'm not cranky..."

* * *

The halls were wide around the level of the medical floors, they vanished behind large metal doors as Freya rubbed slightly at her shoulder. Bandages wrapped around her nearly healed shoulder were hidden under a red coat and black almost skin tight shirt that seemed to be almost like a wet suit to her, the outfit being brought by her Ghost. It was a more sturdier outfit then the one she woke up in, still not guaranteed to stop any rebar however. She would just have to be careful about that. Her Ghost hovered beside her head, a small hum coming from it as the elevator came to a halt and opened to a more open common area. Large windows lined the walls of the space, several small potted plants and the sound of flowing water from a few fountains were scattered across the floor, the center of the level was raised slightly where a round bar sat as it's main focus with several other people sitting around it on stools or nearby at tables.

"This is one of the places Guardians come to relax, it's a little nicer than the rest." Freya's Ghost commented as it lead her across the floor towards another set of elevators. She stepped quickly, glancing at all the people talking to human like machines and other pale skinned humans, there was a gentle noise of conversation that was suddenly cut off as she collided with another object. Her data pad fell to the floor along with her and the other person, a hand roughly shoving her off to the side with a loud curse.

"Watch yourself!" Freya's eyes met a glowing blue as the silver skinned woman she had run into stood gracefully with a sneer on her face.

"Sorry, it was just an accident. No need to get snappy." The other woman let out a small hiss as she swept down and grabbed the rifle she had dropped, checking it over for any imperfections before glaring back at Freya from under silver bangs.

"You're lucky this time, watch where you're going... light's damned warlocks..." The woman muttered, quickly striding away as a scarf like black cloak fluttered behind her.

"Are all the locals as friendly as she is?" Freya grumbled as she reached for her fallen data pad, a gloved hand beat her to it before offering itself to help her up.

"Nah, she's the special one is all." A tall, broad shouldered armored body stood before her, blue eyes glowing from their sockets as small gears and pistons moved them about in an imitation of life. Freya took the hand, eyeing the makeshift helmet of the same aliens that attacked her before upon his shoulder like a trophy. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to make sure you watch where you were going. I don't think anyone wants to scrape you off the side of the tower anytime soon."

He made a small twitch with his mouth, the jaw slightly off center in an imitation of a smirk Freya realized as he held out the pad to her. She muttered a small thanks as the pad was in her hands again, still looking at his plated head in fascination as another voice chimed in.

"Looks like you have a new admirer, I knew I should have kept a better eye on you." A woman in the same heavy plated armor spoke, giving the exo a small punch on his arm. He gave a small shrug in return.

"Can't help it Sonya, it's all the shiny bits and pieces." The woman gave a snort of laughter, turning to Freya with a sparkle in her eye.

"You look new, haven't see you around before."

"Just woke up, in a manner of speaking..." Freya hitched a thumb to her ghost as Sonya gave a small nod of understanding.

"I see, so you're the one I heard about that came in on the rust-bucket a few days back with a hole in your shoulder. Love to hear the story on that one." The exo placed a hand on Sonya's shoulder, drawing her attention as she spoke.

"So I assume story is a new substitute for food then? Let the girl get adjusted a bit before you swoop her under a wing or two." He turned to Freya again, giving a small nod. " My name is BR-13K, but everyone calls me Brick for short. And this is Sonya, my partner. We are Titans, pretty much there to stand in the way of the bullets for you."

"I'm Freya, a sun-sorcerer-thing or something I think."

"Warlock, Sun-Singer attunement." Ghost corrected, earning a dirty look from Freya in response.

"What night-light said."

"I am more than a night-light!" Freya pushed him away slightly with her finger as Sonya gave a chuckle.

"Night-light, haven't heart that one in a while. It's good to meet you Freya, up for some grub? I can guarantee it's better than the med-ward stuff if you can stomach anything yet." A brief nod after the mention of food caused her stomach to speak up on it's own and Freya was led up to the diner to sample the local cuisine.

* * *

Seven wrong turns and eight threats of death later, Freya was standing before a door that rested just opposite a large window that was apparently her new home. The Twilight was just starting to fade into a semblance of darkness as she poked the Ghost again to open the door. It slid open with a soft hiss, allowing her entrance as she wearily stumbled inside. She had spent the better part of an hour talking to the Titans Sonya and Brick chatter on about everything, or rather Sonya was the talker while Brick was content to sit back with his arm behind her as he watched them eat, giving small corrections and inserts from time to time. Freya was left with a very 'odd couple' feeling as she left them at the lifts, before being lead around almost half of the living levels by her ghost in a search for her room.

And what a room to be found, all two bunks on either end with a door in the center that was presumably the bathroom, the sound of the shower coming from behind the closed door. There were small desks at the ends of the beds, and that was pretty much it. "Talk about bare necessities..."

"Space is limited in the tower, don't worry though, I can handle any storage you need with the vault system." Freya looked at the two beds, one being bare save for some sheets and a pillow stacked at one end, the other was quite a mess. A large blanket was wadded up against the wall, just covering a small portion of a hanging screen that looked like a view of the outside, the image shifting ever so slightly. A light was attached to the desk, shining down on a jumble of parts to a rifle sitting on a long piece of fabric. Several other trinkets and what seemed to be weapon parts or lengths of wire were left in a pile at the foot of the bed, Freya stepping up to look at the rifle out of curiosity when a small light blinked on beside her and shifted.

"Hey hey hey! Nooo Touchy the merchandise!" The mechanical voice droned, it's pitch seemed to be slightly off as a ghost with a half red, half black shell lifted off from the desk. It's shell fluttered slightly in a semblance of a move of aggression, Freya just flicked it slightly and watched it as it's shell fluttered again as her ghost's had before. It looked to her after a moment, speaking in a small voice. "What was that for? I didn't do nothing..."

"Believe me, it's not you, it's her." Ghost said as they two eyed one another.

"Is she always this violent?" Freya's jaw twitched slightly as the two ghosts continued on as she was standing there.

"As far as I can tell she has a bit of repressed anger."

"Oh yea?"

"Yea, seven hundred years give or take." The other ghost shook it's shell slightly in concern.

"Man, that's rough. Makes me glad I'm not you." White shell flattened over it's blue eye as Ghost's voice seemed to deadpan out.

"Yea, thanks..." Both ghosts let out small noises of alarm as they were both suddenly encased in gloved hands, Freya pulling both blue eyes to look into her own green.

"You know, I am still here, and perfectly capable of incinerating you both if the stuff I read is to be believed."

"A ghost's shell can withstand well over five hundred degree centigrade in heat." Freya raised an eyebrow at this.

"Really? Well from what I read, I can produce a fire that will burn with the intensity of a small sun. Who want's to see how hot that can be?"

"Not me! Not me!" The other ghost spouted in panic, pulling about in her hand as it's shell ruffled in alarm. It stopped after a moment when it noticed Ghost looking at it. "What? I don't..."

It was saved from whatever Freya had in store as the door to the bathroom opened, steam escaping it's confines as out strode the previous occupant. Pale silver-blue skin seemed to glow ethereally in the low light as hands were busy toweling off silver hair, water dripping down in small rivets across nude skin as Freya got an eyeful of the woman before her. The towel was removed from her head as glowing blue eyes looked up at Freya with a small hint of confusion, before turning to a frown.

"I know you..."

"Oh sh..." Both ghosts were glad they could fly as Freya unexpectedly let them both go at the same time, her expletive cut off as she dodged a knife that was suddenly impaled in the door behind her before being pinned to the ground with a knife to her throat. By a very still nude woman she added mentally to herself, as the woman let out a hiss of anger.

"What are you doing here warlock?" Freya's mouth opened and closed slightly as her head tilted back to avoid the knife blade creeping along her neck. Two sets of eyes turned to the ghost, one in anger, the other in panicked confusion as it decided to speak out at this time.

"She's your new room mate."


	3. Teach me, 'kay?

"This must be a joke…"

" It's not I assure you, the order is in the system. For all it's worth, you have her as a room mate now." Freya shifted slightly from under the Awoken woman, the blade at her neck pressing a little firmer against her skin. She caught the gaze of the slightly glowing blue eyes, the woman staring down at her disdainfully.

"Solomon…" The black and red ghost's shell spun and clicked as it floated back slightly, looking back and forth from Ghost to his master.

"Ah! Yes ma'am, this shouldn't take very long….just have to access this and…"

"SOLOMON!" The ghost yelped at her shout, it's shell expanding quickly in a deep blue sphere of energy before collapsing.

"I found it! Right here for you um…" The woman looked at Solomon with a bored expression as Freya watched the ghost do it's best to look embarrassed before it shot a data stream to the picture over the bed. The screen changed from it's idyllic view to a sheet with her picture on it and a few statistics. " Guardian Freya Sinclair, designation 'Reborn'. Estimated age twenty-three, height one-hundred seventy-two point seven two centimeters, weight at examination fifty-two point one six three one kilograms, a little underweight if I may say."

"Hey!" Freya was cut off at a glare from the woman before she looked back to her ghost.

"The orders?" The image flashed a few times through several documents, mostly medical before landing on an official order that designated Freya's living accommodations. Freya watched as the woman's nostrils flared slightly at an exhale of annoyance before the weight atop her waist was lifted, along with the knife edge. "Send a message to the housing administrator."

"This has the Warlock vanguard's signature on it ma'am."

"Then I'll talk to Cayde-6."

"Um that may be a problem…" The woman paused in her dressing, snapping the button of her pants slowly as she turned to stare down Solomon in his eye.

"Define problem." Freya rubbed at her neck slightly as she pulled herself up carefully, at least no skin was broken as she tried to stay away from the current conversation between the now topless woman and her ghost. At least she put on some pants.

"Well…ah, you see…" Solomon's shell spun slightly as the image zoomed into the document at the bottom, the woman turning to inspect it. Freya swore she saw fire in the woman's hand as a pistol hanging at the end of her bed began to glow a dull red, then return to normal as an exhale of frustration echoed in the somewhat small room. Fiery blue eyes were on her again as Freya pressed against the wall when the woman strode up to her, looking down on her from a few scant inches of height.

" Don't touch my guns, don't touch my equipment, don't use my shampoo. Understood?" Freya took a moment to think, she's worried about me using her shampoo? A silvery palm slammed to the side of her head, bringing her focus back to the dangerously attractive woman before her.

"Yea…sure, no shampoo…" The knife in the door was removed for effect as the woman turned and threw it on her bed casually, putting on a skintight black shirt. Freya bit her lip slightly, edging away from the wall slowly as she tried to imagine an invisible line down the center of the room. "What should I call you, for civil purposes of course."

"I don't have a name if that's what you are asking." The woman replied in a clipped tone, sitting at her desk to work on her rifle without sparing Freya a look.

"What do people call you then?"

"Oh they call me many things…"

"Such as?" Freya received another glare as the woman pulled the desk light over a part of her rifle she was working on.

"Has anyone told you that asking questions at a moment like this will get you injured?" Solomon hovered up between them, his shell shifting slightly as he spoke.

"I suggest you take her advice on this." Freya looked to her Ghost, it's shell doing the equivalent of a shrug. The woman had returned her focus on the rifle before her, promptly shutting out Freya in favor of metal and gunpowder. She gave a small sigh shrugging off her long coat, the bed was a little firm and seemed to be built into the wall and floor with two drawers under the mattress for personal affects. Freya put the issued pillow at one end, facing the wall after pulling her boots off as she lay down. This was her life now, stuck in a small room with a knife wielding, hot headed, incredibly beautiful, nameless woman. She paused at the thought before shaking her head and blaming stress and fatigue, closing her eyes as the soft sounds of the woman working on her rifle was the only thing besides the silence.

* * *

Freya handled the scout rifle experimentally, looking down the sights at the weapon smith's behest as Ikora looked on in silent observation. The small red dot lit up the back wall in her vision, vanishing as she shifted her eye away from the sights as she lower the weapon.

"A little wide in the stock, but I should be able to make it fit." Ikora gave a small nod to Banshee-44 as he took the rifle from Freya, passing over a writ of payment to him. The Exo gave a nod, his eyes flashing in a semblance of blinking as he put the rifle onto a table behind him. "I'll notify your ghost when it's finished, anything else?"

"That should be fine for now, thank you." Ikora replied with a small smirk of a smile, turning to leave after gesturing for Freya to follow her. Banshee-44 shared a look with Freya, and he gave her a small nod.

"Bring it to me if you have trouble later and for general maintenance,first five are free."

"Thanks." Freya slipped out of the shop as several others came in, Banshee-44 switching his attention from her to his new customers as she stepped out into the light again. Before her across the open top of the tower sat the view of the city below, and above it like a silent guardian was the Traveler. She took in the large sphere, her eyes traveling down to where it showed signs of damage and decay as her mind became lost in thought.

"Miss Sinclair." Her head snapped to Ikora who was standing a few paces away by a winding tree, stepping under the shade to join the woman. "What have I said about letting your mind wander?"

"Sorry, just taking in the sights." Her eyes flickered to the Traveler for a brief moment, and Ikora gave a small nod of understanding after studying her for a moment.

"One day it shall be a grand sight again, for now all we can do is fight." Freya looked away at this, earning a small quirk of the eyebrow from Ikora. "Is something the matter?"

"No." Ikora gave a small noise of disbelief, but didn't press the matter. Instead she turned her head with a frown as she looked upon the courtyard.

"Well in either case, your instructor should be here momentarily."

"Instructor? I though you taught me how to do all this." Ikora looked back with that small smirk.

"I am the resident Warlock vanguard, however if I took the time to train each new warlock and hold their hands throughout training then I would more than likely have shot someone by now." She intoned in a dry voice. "I handle the administrative affairs of the warlocks and act as a general and counselor to those who require it."

"She also likes to torture small innocent furry creatures with her shotgun." Freya could swear she heard the snap as Ikora's head whipped to the side to glare at a man that was striding up languidly, muddy red coat wrapped around him. He nudged Freya in the arm as he walked up, giving her a wink. "Hope you don't like keeping pets."

"The only thing I shoot are the thralls of darkness and rats Theodore, but I can always make an exception for you." He gave her a smirk, giving a shrug of his shoulders as he hiked a thumb at Freya.

"Do that and this little one won't have a teacher no more. You did want me to teach her, right?" Ikora gave a stressed sigh, turning to Freya with a composed face.

"This is Theodore Maxwell, he will instruct you on being a Sun-Singer. If you can get past the language barrier that is…" Theodore took the insult in stride, throwing up a hand in dismissal.

"I ain't got no problems wit mine speaking, ya' hear?" Ikora grimaced, keeping her eyes on Freya as the girl bit back a smirk of her own.

"Just make sure she doesn't explode in a ball of flame…" She turned and briskly walked away, disappearing into the tower as Theodore chuckled quietly. Freya gave a small chuckle after she was sure that Ikora was out of hearing range, turning to Theodore.

"Sounds like you know what buttons to press." He smirked in response, clapping a hand on her shoulder.

"Kid, when you've been around as long as I have, you get under anyone's skin. C'mon." He jerked his head towards the other end of the courtyard, Freya falling in line behind him as he pushed his brown bangs back to get them out of his eyes. " That being said, I read your file so far. First off, I want to give my condolences. I know what it's like to come back to a world where everything's gone and nobody knows you."

He paused at the railing beside the entrance to the hanger, turning to look at freya with warm brown eyes. "Second, I want to say is that from this point on, your life and mind have to become focused. I don't know if you know how many come back as an untrained sun-singer."

"Not a lot I assume?" Theodore shook his head and held up his hand in an 'o' sign.

"Exactly zero. The void isn't hard to manage, it's cold and calculating, and very steady. But fire…fire is a little trickier to contain. It takes a lot, and I mean a lot, of work to get close to being able to wield that type of power. Warlocks older than you have only just begun to learn it and even they have troubles at times."

"Except you?"

"Especially me." Theodore shook his head." Look, Freya, this is the part where I get serious. You have inside you a burning hot ball of energy, and it isn't going to be smothered out so easily, so that means normal Void Walker techniques and tricks aren't going to help you. You have to remain cool, collected, and not let it burn you when you ask it to help you."

"Ask it? You make it sound like it's alive." Freya pushed back her hair as the wind blew it in her face, the sound of a ship taking off roaring beside them as Theodore waited a moment for it to pass. He gave a nod to her after the roar quieted down.

"It's alive alright, and it packs a punch. It's because of the Traveler that we have this gift, but even so, it's not something you take lightly." He gave her a wry grin, crossing his hands over his chest. " If you can't handle it, you go boom. Nothing left but ash. You ready for it?"

"Is that a multiple choice answer?" Freya asked with a small wince. Theodore laughed loudly, patting her on her right shoulder roughly.

"You'll be fine kid, don't worry. It's more in the mind really, long as you have a nice stress free place to rest at night to focus yourself, you should do fine." He raised an eyebrow at the grimace and paler look she took on. "What's the matter?"

"Well, I have this room mate…"

"Does he need a lesson in manners?" Freya shook her head.

"It's a woman, the silver skin ones…" She said uncertainly as she tried to remember.

"An Awoken?" Theodore supplied to which she gave him a nod. He scratched at the stubble on his chin and gave a shrug of the shoulders. "So what's the problem? They may look strange, but they are still human in a sense."

"She has a bit of a temper…and knives."

"Knives huh? So you got bunked up with a Hunter then, that's fine. If you have any troubles I can talk to the housing admin about her and have you moved, what's her name?"

"She doesn't have one." Theodore frowned, a look of recognition passing over his face. "You know her?"

"Everyone knows her." He gave a drawn out sigh, running a hand over his hair in thought before looking back at Freya. "How much have you read in the history files?"

"Next to nothing, just a little on Sun-singers. Why?" Theodore nodded in return glancing behind her as he took a breath.

"Well, back some couple hundred years ago was the calamity that made this tower and this city the last place for humans to live. During that time, some humans escaped to the edge of the solar system, at a place we call the Reef. They got changed, some warlocks who study the old history think that their appearance is the result of the darkness forcing evolution on the human body. Some of them came back later on, helped us all fight, the rest stay in the Reef." Freya turned, noticing her room mate across the way looking at a large board with several other guardians, rifle slung across her shoulder as Theodore continued on. "The ones in the Reef don't like the ones that left, to them those that are helping us are dead. But still the Awoken in the tower and across the city are part of our community, except…"

He paused, the sound of another ship roaring beside them before vanishing into the sky. He looked to Freya, catching her attention. "Do you remember who you were and your life before today?"

"Yea, a little. Not everything is back but I remember who I am." Theodore gave a slow nod in response.

"When the Awoken who live here left the Reef, they became dead in a sense, a lot of prejudice you see. But even here in the Awoken community, there are those who have been reborn like you and me, but unlike you and me they are fairly more superstitious."

"How so?" He was silent for several seconds, his jaw twitching as he thought of how to say the words.

"The Awoken believe the soul remembers, that's why they come back, they remember their body and thus to them they are reborn. But for her…" He looked back across the courtyard, Freya following his gaze as she watched her room mate striding towards them. Then past them as she made her way into the hanger without a glance at either of them. "She doesn't remember anything, and to the Awoken, that's as good as still being dead."

* * *

Freya stared down at the plate before her, thoughts still going through her head pertaining to her roommate of all things. To not remember was hard, but to be cast out like that must have been worse. Theodore watched as Freya shifted the food on her plate again, giving a small groan of annoyance as he shook her shoulder gently.

"Alright enough, I've let you think while we got some lunch, but even I can see your mind wandering." A small blush crept to Freya's cheeks out of embarrassment, and she muttered an apology. Theodore shook his head and waved it off. "Look, I'm not getting on your ass about it because it's a small problem, but because I don't need you to suddenly blow up cause you thought the wrong thing. Which reminds me… Sophie."

Freya watched as a blue colored ghost appeared, materializing beside him as it looked between the two. The tone of it's voice was still droning, but it sounded more like a girl than the other's she had met. "Yes Theodore?"

"You get that bond I asked you for?"

"Of course, one moment." Her shell spun a quarter turn before a circular band materialized out of white particles into his hand, stabilizing into a piece of grey metal with small wave like ridges inscribed upon it.

"Thanks sweetheart. Left arm please." Theodore gestured to Freya as he held the band.

"What's that for?" She raised her arm to let him slip the open cuff around her bicep.

"This is a Warlock's bond, think of it as a focus for your energy. It symbolizes your connection to the traveler and in particular me as your teacher, it also easily identifies you as a warlock from a distance. This may sting." Freya scrunched her face in confusion before the bond clicked shut and a small jolt of energy surged between her arm and the bond, she yelped at the shock and glared at Theodore who smirked in return before going back to his plate. "That sting was your powers connecting to the bond, it won't do it again unless you get another one."

"Are you allowed to change them?"

"You get some attachments for ranking in the order, but otherwise you are free to customize and wear what you will. Think of this one as a welcome to the family present." Freya looked down at the band on her arm, rubbing around it slightly as she took in the relatively plain metal band. A small insignia was inscribed within one of the waves, Theodore speaking as he swallowed another bite. "That little scratch there is my teacher insignia, it means I'm the one teaching you. You can change your bond at any time, but when you wear that one, you listen to me. Clear?"

Freya gave a nod to which he seemed satisfied with as he lifted his fork to take another bite, then promptly choked on it as a woman's voice shouted out across the small lounge.

"Theodore Alexander Maxwell, what the HELL did you do to MY Ship!?" Said man in question pounded on his chest as he reached for his drink, Freya turning to see a blond haired woman making her way through the crowd that parted out of her way from fear. She stopped with her hand on her hips, a small data pad in the other hand as she shook it at him. "How do you explain shredding both the frontal AND rear intakes, the near fusing of your flight column, not to mention the plasma burns all over the hull."

"Freya let me introduce you to Amanda Holiday, the tower's mechanic. She's the one fixing your ship, when not yelling at me. Ow!" Theodore rubbed his head from where Amanda had hit him with the data pad.

"Don't change the subject, do you know how much work I had put into that ship? You don't get to take out my Valkyrie-O5X for a joyride and bring it back TOTALED!" Theodore winced slightly, pulling her down into the booth beside him.

"Calm down Amanda, I'll make it up to you. Besides, I can't exactly tell the Cabal to stop shooting me when I am trying to get the hell out of dodge." The woman let out a huff of agitation, the room going back to a low murmur of conversation as they realized the show was over.

"I told you not to go, doesn't matter that you brought back the bypass for their sensor net, what would have happened if you didn't come back?"

"Something tells me you would wage all out war on Mars for the ship first." He grunted in pain as she hit him again with the pad, rubbing his head.

"Stop joking, you know what I mean." He gave a tired sigh, stuffing another bite into his mouth as she put her head in her hand. "What the hell am I going to do with you Teddy?"

" Tell me you love me and continue on with a glamorous life fixing jump ships." Amanda scoffed gently, giving him a rough shove, he returned it with a gentle shoulder nudge. Her eyes caught Freya finally, looking over at the girl who was watching the whole exchange.

"Sorry about that, this thick skulled man doesn't know when to quit sometimes."

"It's alright…" Freya managed as Theodore finished his meal and pushed the plate away.

"Amanda this is Freya, she's been assigned as my protege. Play nice." Amanda shrugged and held out her hand, Freya shaking it with a bit of uncertainty.

"So you're studying for the Sun-Singer advancement? Good luck, most go back to walking the void." She waved her fingers slightly in a spooky manner before folding her arms on the table. Theodore shook his head at her.

"She's just been reborn, as a singer. No void walking involved."

"You're kidding?" He shook his head, causing her to sit back slightly. "Ok…."

"What? I'm not going to explode or anything." Freya snapped, earning a stern look from Theodore. He turned back to Amanda after Freya let out a breath of frustration and went back to eating.

"Her ship is in your bay, should have come in earlier in the week."

"The junker?" He gave a nod to which she winced, she remembered the junker ship flying in and depositing it's cargo. Last time she saw Freya, there was a hole in her shoulder she could probably see through given the chance. "It's missing it's warp drive, I don't have a spare. If you're asking if it's fixed, I was waiting to hear if she had survived or not."

"How long until it's ready?" Amanda shrugged.

"A day or two, but it will take at least a week if you are planning to take her out to find one on account of you and your shitty Cabal dodging." Theodore raised an eyebrow at this as he rested his chin against his knuckles. Then he would need at least a week to get her ready to go out to the wilds again, more than likely to the old cosmodrome in old Russia where her ghost said she came from. Shouldn't be too hard, he glanced over at Freya who was speaking to her ghost who had appeared from doing his errands, listening to the conversation she had before watching her flick at the ghost's shell in annoyance, he let out a long heavy sigh.

"Looks like I have my work cut out for me."

 


	4. Training to go back...Am I Missing An Eyebrow?

"Time?"

"Coming up on about thirty minutes now Theodore." He scratched the back of his head as he reached over to shut off the simulated track, watching as Freya wobbled down to a halt, placing her hands on her knees as she took in several breaths.

"I take it you weren't the athletic type in school?"

Freya settled for shaking her head, almost collapsing on the floor next to the machine as she sat down. It was four days since leaving the medical ward, and here she was on the training level near ready to be sent back. Her muscles ached from not being used for however long now, not that she was very athletic to begin with. Reading books, tinkering with gadgets, that she could do. Run a mile nonstop? Not exactly in her vocabulary. Sweat covered her body in a glossy sheen as something cold was pressed to the side of her head, she gave a small sound of joy as she took the bottle of water from Theodore.

"I wouldn't worry too much about today's results, I just wanted to see where you stood in terms of performance. A Guardian needs to maintain their bodies to a passable degree of fitness, the stresses we undergo aren't exactly friendly." Freya let out a breath after nearly downing half the bottle in one go, causing him to smirk in response. A glare was given in return as she rubbed at her shoulder under the training shirt she was wearing. "Shoulder still giving trouble?"

"Just feels strange, never had a piece of rebar in it before." Theodore gave a small 'Ah', turning to address Sophie. Freya took another breath, her lungs no longer burned from not being used, and despite the burning in her muscles she didn't feel as bad as it was before. In the past when she had to take the physical fitness tests at school she would barely make it half a mile before the period was over, now at least today she finished it with only a shortness of breath and an ache in her muscles. "Theodore?"

"Hmm, What's up kiddo?" She rubbed at her shoulder again, glancing up at him curiously.

"When we're brought back, do our bodies change somehow?" He gave a nod as he set himself down next to her, looking out over the training floor.

"Well that's the trick I suppose. In order for our ghosts to bring us back, they need to use a bit of the light that the Traveler used to make them to begin with. Our bodies become infused with the energy, and kinda evolve in a manner of speaking."

"So what, are we like mutants or something?" He gave her a grin and held up a fist.

"See any adamantium claws?" She shook her head and he continued. "I can't tell you much then I'm afraid. Even though I've been studying the Traveler for a good seventy years now, it still has some mysteries to be unlocked. Hell, most warlocks spent all their lives just trying to understand, haven't even scratched the surface. All I can say, is that the Traveler's light empowers us, gives us the ability to draw out what's inside and make it stronger."

Freya was silent, her mind wandering again as she thought of the meaning behind Theodore's words. It takes what's inside, and makes it stronger. "So what if there was nothing left but bones?"

Theodore looked to her with a frown, biting his tongue between his teeth as he watched her stare down at the shining metal bottle in her hand. Seven hundred years, only a couple of years after the traveler was found on Mars if what she had told him was correct. Mankind would have just begun to take to the stars, so how did she end up dying outside such a large facility like the cosmodrome and not have been found and buried? It didn't sit right with him, but without the records from that area he couldn't find out for her sake. If they even still existed.

"Theodore." He looked up as Sophie returned, hovering in front of them with Freya's ghost nearby. "I have the information from Amanda that you wanted."

"And, what's the news?" Sophie's blue shell clicked slightly as she glanced over to Freya then back to him.

"It's a voice message…" He grunted slightly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Just…give me the short version if you would be so kind." Sophie seemed to give the ghost equivalent of a nod, her shell expanding slightly as Theodore hastily held up a hand and added in. "Without the playback Soph."

Freya looked up as Sophie's shell clicked back into place, wondering what he didn't want to hear. "Well, short version the answer is 'No'. Another week at least, something about burnt out components and how your head was going to end up on a platter for it. Then a small rant about finding golden age technology parts."

He gave a groan, placing his head in his hands as he peeked up from between his fingers at her. "It's going to take more than dinner and an apology then isn't it?"

"More than likely." Theodore groaned, resting his face in his hand. He glanced to Freya, catching her eye.

"Kid, if I ever give advice, let this be the one to take to heart. Don't fall in love. It's too much of a pain in the ass keeping another person happy long enough to keep your own safe." Freya gave a small shrug.

"It can't be that bad, you just have to stop doing stupid shit." She stood slowly, holding onto the treadmill as she rocked slightly. "Are we done for today?"

"Hmm? Oh yea, you can go ahead and take the rest of the day off. Just look over those journals I gave you and try to set your mind through a few exorcizes I have detailed in there, we'll find out how well you can use your powers in a few days. Just be here tomorrow in the morning, I'll walk you through a few routines you can do on your own so that you can work yourself up a bit and keep active. We may hit the books and study mysteries of the Traveler, but a Warlock that runs out of breath during a firefight isn't exactly going to be studying long." Freya gave a nod, turning to walk off when he caught her wrist. She looked back down at his weak smile. "Before you go, you wouldn't happen to know a good way to calm a woman down when she wants to bite your head off do you?"

"Not total her ships?" Freya responded with a shrug, he let out a groan and let his head hang as his hand dropped.

"Man, it figures. All you women are out to get me aren't you…Why is the female mind so complex?" Freya gave a weak smile and a shrug, leaving him sitting on the treadmill as she made her way to the lifts. She wished she had an answer for him, the doors to the lift closed behind her and she rested against the cool metal as she stared out into space. But how could she give an answer to a question she was still trying to figure out herself?

* * *

A still smoldering coat was thrown onto the small desk at the end of her bed as Freya skipped the shower and decided to simply collapse face first on the mattress. Her hair was at least a half inch shorter now thanks to the way her power reacted, her body feeling completely drained as she thanked her lucky stars that she at least had her eyebrows. Theodore wasn't so lucky. She groaned slightly as she rolled over, her ghost hovering over her as it looked down at her.

"Well, that went better then expected I guess." His voice droned, she gave a half hearted glare at him that caused him to shrug his shell in response. "Don't give me that look, I wasn't the one controlling solar fire…That nearly burnt down a good portion of the forest outside…And caused a city wide panic when it almost breached the walls."

"You aren't helping…" Ghost looked at her after it's eye had drifted off from listing off what happened.

"You really need to find another thing to vent your anger on to."

"You were the one to bring me back, deal with it."

"That makes no sense, how am I to blame for my own programming?" Freya sighed and sat up, making a feeble attempt at grabbing the ghost as it just hovered out of her reach. She settled for glaring at it as she slid over and rested her back against the wall, staring across the small room. Her roommate wasn't back yet, having left a few days ago for some mission outside the walls. When she was around Freya would often find her curled up under the large blanket on her bed, sleeping well into the morning some days. It was a strange sight to see the silver-skinned woman sleeping so peacefully as she was practically cocooned inside the blanket, her shoulder length silver hair surrounding her face messily as she slept. It was a calming sight to see, more so than the sight of her angry with a knife at her throat.

Freya rubbed at her neck slightly, two weeks. It was two weeks since she arrived in the tower, back into the living world after having been dead for seven centuries. All she knew was gone, dead and turned to dust as far as she knew. Freya was alone, just like her. The only difference was a memory of a name.

"Freya, you ok?" Green eyes found the glowing blue light of her Ghost, it hovered near her as though it was always there.

"Why did you bring me back?" The Ghost looked down, as though in thought before looking back up at her with it's blue eye.

"You called me."

"How can a dead person call out to a machine?" It floated closer hovering in front of her as it's shell shifted slightly in mimicry of expression.

"I'm not sure. I was created by the Traveler with a purpose, to find and guide the one who called out to me. To add the light, my light, to them. To give them meaning again." Freya stared at it for a while, glancing over at the bed across from her.

"What happens if you find the right person, but they didn't call you? Didn't have a meaning to begin with?"

"Impossible, every ghost can hear their partner, and every person we bring back has a meaning to be alive."

"But what if they don't remember it?" Ghost watched as a tear slid down Freya's cheek, a small circle of flame appeared beside her after a moment. Then another. The ghost watched as small drops of flames littered the small apartment, falling and spreading out into small ripples of fire at random places in the air. The door slid open as Freya sat there lost in her thoughts and tears, her room mate stepping in and watching the sight before her as the door hissed shut. The small drops of fire were everywhere, falling and rippling out like rain falling upon a pond. One burst near her arm, a gentle warmth coming from the flame instead of searing pain, and she held out a hand to catch another as it fell into her palm. She watched as it fell on her skin, gentle warmth washing over it instead of burning heat. She took a quick look around, despite the fire falling, it wasn't burning anything.

Her rifle found it's home on her desk as she pulled off her cloak, going through the motions of removing her armor as she made her way to the bathroom to bathe. She paused halfway as she crossed Freya's line of sight, the girl's eyes seemed hollow and empty as the tears streamed down. She wasn't burning anything despite the light show, and there was no reason for her to get into the girl's business. If she wanted to have a pity party, then best that she left the woman out of it. That's what the woman said to herself as her undershirt hit the bed, her thumb hooked into her pants to remove them when she looked back into those green eyes.

"Whatever it is, you should stop being so upset about it. Unless you plan to burn the place down that is." Freya snapped back into reality as she stared into glowing blue eyes, a silver hand on her cheek. A thumb brushed away the tears slightly as she saw a small burst of flame behind the woman, and another falling across her bare shoulder. She took a sudden breath, the flame drops vanishing as she went through her mental exorcises, biting her lip as she glanced back at her room mate with a small blush. "That's better."

The woman stood, Freya averting her eyes at the bare chest in front of her as the woman turned back to enter the bathroom.

"Why don't you just choose one?" Freya couldn't stop herself as the words tumbled from her lips in a soft whisper. Her room mate paused in the doorway, hand on the frame as she glanced back at Freya. She took a breath, pitching her voice louder now that the woman was paying attention. "Why don't you just choose your own name? Make your own purpose?"

Blue eyes studied her as she risked a glance. The woman's hair was tied back, the silver length falling a little longer across smooth silver skin than she thought from the low ponytail the woman kept it in. Blue eyes turned away after a moment, the woman's words coming out soft instead of harsh.

"How can I choose something I don't even remember being given?" Freya didn't have an answer, and the woman didn't wait for one as the door to the bathroom hissed shut, the sound of running water coming from within a few moments later.

* * *

Freya stood at the railing beside the entrance to the hanger, staring out over the city as the wind played with her hair. Today was the day she went back to old Russia and the cosmodrome where her ship came from. Three weeks was a short time to be prepared, but Theodore had given her the green light to at least go on one mission. Experience has to be done hands on, not in some library, or so he said. She hadn't seen her roommate in a while either, an uneasy silence having come between them since that night, expanding into another long stretch outside the tower. It shouldn't have bothered her the way it was.

"I hope that mind of yours is going through drills and not daydreaming again." Theodore's voice rang out, a cocky grin on his face as he walked up with another man behind him in large plated armor.

"Give Miss Sinclair a chance Theodore. It's been only what, three weeks since I had to patch up her shoulder?" Freya frowned, looking up at the face behind Theodore.

"Your, Doctor Mendez?" The Titan gave her a small salute as he smiled down at her.

"Surprised to see me Miss Sinclair? I said I was on duty the night you came in, I didn't say where now did I?" Theodore tapped Doctor Mendez's chest plate with the back of his hand.

"Doc here is going to come with us, as a precaution. We don't know what will happen, or how you will handle it to be honest. Doesn't hurt to have a little extra help, just in case." Freya gave a small shrug in response.

"As long as I don't blow up you mean." Theodore tapped the side of his nose before gesturing to the hanger and walking off. Freya frowned and Doc gave a small sigh.

"That man has as much tact as a bull in a china shop. Don't worry about the little things Miss Sinclair, it's standard protocol that every reborn Guardian have a medical evaluation of sorts in the field. If you can't handle the pressure, then we don't want you to be put through unnecessary stress. There are always other ways to serve than fighting."

"Like staying in the med ward all day?" Doc gave a hearty laugh as he guided her along after Theodore.

"Goodness no, I think I'd go stir crazy sitting there all the time. My specialty is being a field medic and a Defender class Titan, I'd rather be there to make sure Guardians come back first then wait to see if they come back at all. Don't worry, I've got your back." Freya gave a small nod as they stepped up to the docking hanger, looking down at the ships below. A lift was in the center of the hanger, rising up slowly as a familiar shape rose with it.

"I've managed to patch her up, but she's still missing that warp core. Means you won't be able to head off too much past the moon till you find one." Holiday shouted over the wind as she and Theodore walked up.

"That'll do Amanda, we won't be going far." A hand grasped the cuff of Theodore's jacket as he looked down at her with an uneasy smile.

"You take care of her or else." The warning hung in the air as she stalked back towards the maintenance bay.

"The ship or the girl?"

"Both!" Theodore gave a shrug, turning back to Doc and Freya.

"Well, you heard the lady. Let's get going! Sophie, start her up!" One of the ships on the hanger floor started up, lifting up from the deck as Freya watched Theodore vanish in particles of light. A hand squeezed her shoulder and she turned to see Doc vanish a moment later in the same fashion, the other ship rising up to follow Theodore's. She looked down at the last ship, her ship, as it too started up and her Ghost appeared before her.

"Ready to go back?" His voice came clearly over the noise. Freya gave a nod, turning back as she felt her body tingle slightly and float up, her vision turning to white as the ship rocketed out of the hanger after the others.

 


	5. Russia, Ghosts, Guardian

The world faded into focus again as Freya opened her eyes to stare out through the transparent shield of her helmet, taking in the sight of the waves crashing against the cliff sides. Large planes were scattered in parts in a low plain to her left, beyond that a large wall of stone and metal she recognized as the barrier to the Russian cosmodrome complex in the distance standing as though it was the new cliff, bits of plant life and aging metal hanging off it. A weight settled in her hands as she held the scout rifle she was issued against her chest, turning to see Doc doing a few quick stretches with a machine gun in his hands. His swept back helmet turned to her and gave a nod.

"Ready to get started?" Freya gave a nod as she looked about their group, noticing the absence.

"Where's Theodore?"

"He mentioned something about checking the old records in the skywatch for something, don't you worry about him. That man can more than take care of himself." Doc replied, gesturing up towards a building with a large radar dish a short way from them up the road. "Now, lets see if we can find ourselves a warp core for that ship of yours. Lend us a hand Virgil, what do you see?"

A red ghost phased into existence in front of them, expanding it's shell as a small pulse of light rippled through the energy field it created around it's core.

"There's a signature off inside the main complex. I can't get a decent estimation on it's location." Doc gave a nod as Virgil's shell collapsed and he looked at Doc. "I also found a downed Guardian jump ship a few clicks east of our position, it looks recent."

"Any Fallen activity?"

"Light groups, probably just small raiding parties. Activating motion trackers." Freya saw her visor flicker slightly and tint as a small radar overlay appeared at the top left of her eye. Several other small measurements and statistics appeared to her right as she watched with fascination her heads up display activate.

"Halo had nothing on this…"

"Halo?" Doc asked, looking to her with his helmet tilted. Freya was hoping she couldn't be seen through her visor as she blushed slightly.

"Nothing, just old stuff…" Doc gave a shrug in response, saying a short word to his ghost as a small indicator appeared on her visor. Virgil vanished a moment later as they started off across the moth yards, following the beacon that had been set towards the location of the ship Virgil had mentioned. The old husks of the planes were silent as the two made their way at a steady pace through the old moth yards away from the skywatch, Freya lagging only slightly behind as Doc trudged along in relative silence.

A chill ran down Freya's spine as they crossed a ridge, and a small glance back beheld nothing but the movement of the sparse dead grass in the scattered patches of snow."Is everything alright Miss Sinclair?"

"Yea, I think…" Doc stepped up beside her, scanning the landscape whence they came.

"You think?"

"I just, got this feeling." He gave a small grunt of understanding, staring out at the field for a minute more before giving her shoulder a small pat and turning.

"Let us not stay long then." Freya agreed quietly, turning to follow as a small jump of movement skittered in the empty husks. Half a heartbeat later she quickly turned and followed Doc as he made his way down from the ridge towards the still smoking wreckage of a ship upon the steppes. As they came up upon the bent and twisted shape of the jump ship, Virgil and Freya's ghost appeared beside them, hovering up around the wreckage as they scanned. "What's the news?"

"There's severe damage, doesn't look like it will fly again easily." Virgil responded as his scanner flickered across the hull.

"The warp drive is in tact though, minimal damage. We should be able to use it." Doc shook his head at Ghost.

"We need to find the Guardian it belonged to first, no stealing." His voice brokered no argument as the ghosts resumed their scanning of the ship. Freya stood with her back to the wreckage, her eyes jumping around as the ghosts worked. She jumped slightly at the hand that fell on her shoulder, holding a hand to her chest as Doc gave a small chuckle. "Relax, just watch your tracker and everything will be fine."

Freya nodded, taking a breath as she glanced up at the small radar on her visor screen. Her eyes came off the ridge to look over the broken and battered ship, grimacing at the twisted metal and exposed wiring as the ghosts scanned over the wreckage. The ghosts, so much was relied on them for small things like this she noticed.

"Does everyone give a name to their ghost?" Freya asked to break the silence as they ghosts worked, her own glancing up as Doc responded to her.

"Everyone I know. It seems kind of silly not to since they are with us all the time, not to mention it would be confusing for everyone to just call their ghost the same thing. I guess it's more like tradition now a days."

"You guess?" Doc gave a small shrug as his helmet turned to Freya.

"I wasn't brought back like most Guardians, believe it or not I'm only sixty-five years young."

"How is that possible?" Doc gave a chuckle, checking the loading mechanism on his machine gun as he talked.

"Means I was born after the collapse Miss Sinclair. Virgil found me one day when I was nineteen, said I had been calling to him. Course I had heard of the Guardians and their Ghosts before hand, was going to try to get in to being a Guardian myself when I could find a way, Virgil just made it easier. I trained for several years as a Titan, picking up medicine when out on patrol one day and noticing the distinct lack of some first aid amongst other Guardians."

"No one knew first aid?"

"Oh people knew, it just wasn't always effective. I figured I would learn and try to help out where I could, helped keep more Guardians alive today." Freya gave a nod of understanding, she too owed her life to him after all. Her ghost floated by her, glancing up at her before looking down to scan again.

"So why Virgil?" Doc turned to look at the wreckage and their ghosts, giving a small nod towards his own.

"Well, I always enjoyed the old tales. I remember reading one called 'Dante's Inferno', it inspired me during my youth since life was still hard in my small village. Virgil helped guide Dante through hell and back, it just made sense to name him that, especially after everything we have been through so far." He looked to her giving a gesture towards her ghost. "Course what you name yours is entirely up to you."

"Well…" Freya bit her lip slightly as the Ghosts looked up at them from the wreckage. "I could always name it Mrs. Snufflebottoms."

"No." Her ghost deadpanned as Doc laughed loudly, bending over to rest on his knee.

"Mrs. Snufflebottoms?" Freya gave a shrug as she looked down to him.

"It was the name of my grandmother's cat. I really hated that thing…"

"I'm sure the feeling was mutual." Ghost replied in monotone as Doc recovered from his fit of laughter.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly recommend it, but it's your ghost." Ghost looked at Doc with the equivalent of an unamused look, Virgil interceding as he floated up into attention.

"I found a record in the ship. The guardian it belonged to was working on restoring some of the network down in the tunnels. It seems their ship was brought down during her work."

"Do we know where?" Virgil's shell spun and clicked slightly as it spun towards a torn up and dark entrance to the complex.

"Last readings come from a maintenance bay in that direction." Doc gave a nod, lifting his machine gun back to rest in the crook of his arm.

"Let's make sure they're ok then, Miss Sinclair." Freya followed as Doc started off towards the ruined entrance, Ghost hovering up next to her.

"You are not calling me that." Freya gave a shrug.

"That's what the cat thought too, he never really stood a chance though."

"Crazy must run in the family." Freya's response was a small flick on Ghost's shell, giving a small smirk as it ruffled in irritation before vanishing into particles of light.

* * *

Light filtered in through the dirty windows faintly, casting the old skywatch interior in scattered shadows as Theodore made his way carefully though the old office space. The barrel of his hand cannon slipped around the corner of the hallway, the silver colored etchings of feathers on the slide glinting as they caught the sparse light before the rest of his body followed.

"Well Sophie? Tell me the good news." The motion tracker on his visor display was pulsing rhythmically, no movement so far as he made his way into an office that held a few small terminals on desks. Sophie blinked into view, floating to a terminal as Theodore took up position on the other side of the door, crouching low.

"This line is still connected, but it's spotty."

"As long as you can reach Rasputin, I don't want to get too close to the array after last time. It shouldn't be too hard to request the information." The terminal monitor lit up in front of Sophie as she accessed it with a data stream, her shell expanding and spinning slightly as she worked.

"Theodore." He looked to her, making his way over to the terminal as she floated out of the way slightly. "Is this it?"

He scanned the screen, wiping the dust off it as his eyes scanned the page. It was an old news article from the construction of the cosmodrome and the facility itself, detailing the construction and the marvel of being able to go into space. He frowned and shook his head. "Right time era, wrong thing. See if there is anything on sudden deaths or accidents, maybe somewhere ten or fifteen years front and back."

"Anything in particular to look for?" Her shell spun as her data stream advanced through the information at a pace too rapid for Theodore to follow. He bit his tongue, glancing up at the tracker from habit before looking back to the monitor.

"Deaths of young women, last name of Sinclair." Sophie said nothing in response, cycling through the old articles and reports that Rasputin was allowing her to access. Theodore turned, pacing slightly from the terminal to the doorway out of a cultured and learned practice of paranoid alertness, you could never be too careful out here.

"I found something." He quickly made his way back to Sophie as an article showed on the screen, a report mentioning the name Sinclair along with the war mind project. Theodore shook his head at the screen.

"That's not it."

"It's the only thing with that name Theodore." He gave a grunt of annoyance as his eyes scanned the page again.

"It can't be, look here." He pointed at a spot on the screen. " This is a Dr. Sinclair from several years after the fact. I doubt there's a connection, it may be a relative of hers."

"There's an image with the file." A picture of a group of scientists appeared on screen, Theodore scanning the faces quickly. He had to do a double take when he noticed a much older looking Freya in the group, her hair longer and features more wizened under silvering hair as she stood near the center of the picture in a lab coat.

"See if you can find her anywhere else." He pointed at the elder Freya as Sophie went to work again, the image flashed as 'ACESS DENIED' appeared across the screen. "Bypass it."

Several smaller windows appeared as Sophie went to work, her shell spinning rapidly at points as she made small sounds of annoyance from time to time. "What is it?"

"The war mind is blocking off some of the access to the files, it's actively trying to stop me from getting in." Theodore shook his head, what was so important about that file that Rasputin was willing to fight to protect? The terminal sparked suddenly, Theodore throwing up an arm in response as the screen went black. "Connection severed, it sent a huge spike of useless data through the lines and overloaded everything."

"Did you get anything?" Sophie turned to him, her shell spinning a quarter turn as she looked at him.

"I managed to slip in before the surge, but I could only get one thing." Theodore watched her hover over to another terminal, the screen blinking to life as she projected the data stream onto it. Under the dust and grime lay a personnel file of the woman he had seen in the photo, her features staring out at him from the personnel photo badge on the sheet.

"Doctor Lisette F. Sinclair, Director of artificial intelligence and project lead of the 'Experimental Overwatch Sentry' project, code E.X.O.S." Theodore frowned as he read through the file. "This woman worked on the Exos? I thought the information was lost when it came to them."

"Apparently Rasputin is keeping a few extra skeletons in the closet." Theodore shook his head, what connection did Freya have to this woman? It didn't seem like anything but a last name and an eerily similar image, but it still made Theodore uneasy. Something more was behind this girl, and his gut kept telling him to let the past stay in the past. His curiosity however, was more imposing.

"Ok, let's try-"

"I'm getting a signal from Virgil, they need help Theodore." Sophie interrupted suddenly as her shell expanded in a flash, her blue eye looking at him from within the energy field. Theodore cursed, rushing to the door as he looked out down the hall, his motion tracker coming alive as he quickly crouched low. A dreg ambled into the hall, it's lanky form moving in small jerking movements as another joined it.

"Plot a course Sophie, let them know we're en route." Theodore checked then spun the chamber of the hand cannon, rolling out of the doorway as he shot at the dregs, their heads exploding into bursts of ether vapor. Luck's in the chamber today.

* * *

The old loading bay doors were open to the way, one forced fully open as the other sat halfway in it's rusted metal tracks, the faded white paint of the number '13' upon the chipped concrete beside them. Freya shivered in response to the sight, rubbing at her shoulder as she stared at the doors behind which memories surfaced. Doc slipped through the open passage, sweeping his machine gun around the room as light streamed in from the blown out ceiling. Movement from behind a large shipping crate drew his eye, he was beside the figure in moments despite his size and armor.

"Miss Sinclair." Freya jumped back into the present, quickly making her way over as she held her rifle at the ready. Doc set his machine gun down, looking over the figure slumped up against the crates as glowing yellow eyes blinked on and off back up at him. "Easy, you will be alright now Guardian."

Freya glanced down, watching as he pushed back the hood from the figure's head. Metal and light shone through as the female looking Exo looked up with flashing mechanical eyes. Her right leg was severed at the knee, wiring sparking every so often as small chunks of armor and metal from her body were missing, exposing wiring and hydraulics to the air.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Doc asked calmly, the Exo's eyes focusing on him as it made a warbling sound, it's mouth moving soundlessly for a moment before a shudder went through her body and she seemed to cough.

"Ambushed…Fallen…They blew my ship out of the sky before I could escape…where's Eva?"

"Who?" Freya asked, the Exo's head sparking slightly as it jerked. Her voice stuttered in a loop for a second as she responded.

"E-E-Ev-v-va, where's my Ev-V-va?" Doc shook his head, looking up to Freya.

"She must be talking about her ghost, it should have been here with her." He collected his gun, standing swiftly as he looked around. "Her ghost has to be around here somewhere, I can't do much for Exos unfortunately, but with her ghost we may be able to help her."

Doc began looking around the small hanger like area, examining some of the damage of the battlefield that had taken place apparently in search for the wayward ghost, Virgil flashing into existence next to him to aid his search. Freya looked back down at the Exo woman, kneeling next to her as she put a hand on the cold metal shoulder gently.

"Don't worry, we'll find Eva for you." The Exo sputtered slightly, a mechanism catching in her neck as Freya looked on. Something glinted inside the metal catching her eye then, Freya setting down her rifle as she hovered over the Exo. Her hands were over the Exo's neck, and she hesitated before catching the yellow eyes that seemed to see her through her visor. "Don't worry, I think I can help…"

The Exo's eyes flashed on and off in a blink, staring up at her as they moved from the small hydraulics in the eye sockets. Carefully Freya lifted the Exo's chin, looking into the open metal of her neck as the glint stood out again to her. Hidden under the outer wiring that seemed to look like muscle and tendons was a small rotating track, a shining bullet was lodged within, stopping the rotation and causing the jerk the Exo was experiencing. Freya turned the Exo's head gently to the side, pushing hard against the side of the bullet as she did so to force it free. There was a grating of metal and a snap as the small slug came free, and after a few turns the Exo found she could move her head again, with a small click at least.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Freya smiled slightly, pulling the Exo's hood over her neck slightly as the Exo's eyes looked up past her. Doc stood uneasily behind Freya, a small object in his hand as he knelt down and placed it in the Exo's hand. Freya's eyes widened as she took in the small shell less core of the ghost Doc had put into the Exo's hand, it's eye was dark and a portion of the inner shell was melted and scored. "No…"

A choked sob came from the Exo as she cradled her ghost to her chest, her mechanical voice repeating her ghost's name over and over again. Freya felt the tears fall as she watched the machine before her lament the loss of her companion, her chest growing tight as despite the metal and gears, she saw the raw emotion in the Exo's face.

Then it came. Slight at first, metal scraping against concrete as Doc raised his machine gun up towards the large maintenance tunnel in the wall. Fear passed over Freya as she refused to turn, refused to behold the glowing red eyes of the Fallen leader that stepped from the tunnel with a clicking sound. Heavy machine gun fire burst behind her as Doc opened fire on the Fallen Dregs that rushed out from a side passage, screeches filling the air as he gave a battle cry, slamming one of the larger vandals into the wall before turning his gun on the Archon. He was bat aside easily, heavy armor clanging loudly against the concrete as he fell to the floor. Freya looked up to see a three fingered arm knock her away, the breath leaving her as she hit the floor. Her head spun as she heard semi automatic gunfire, turning back to see the Exo woman firing Freya's scout rifle up at the Fallen Archon. The rifle was ripped from her hand, the large shotgun leveled at her head.

"NO!"

_"Weak…"_

A pulse of energy rushed through her as Freya stood, heat erupting along her arms as she threw it out at the Fallen. The ball of fire burst in the air, arcing as small lances into several of the standing fallen, melting into their chests as it pierced a hole into the Archon's shoulder. Another arc of fire, this one erupting into a small sun as the large Archon quickly scrambled from the flame, another Vandal behind him wasn't as lucky as it slumped down after a short scream in a lump of molten metal. A burst came from the shotgun in the Archon's hands, the rounds streaking past her as Freya let loose the energy within. The rage, the pain, Freya was going to let this son of a bitch alien taste it all for itself, with fire.

Fire erupted around her, and Freya's vision blurred. Idly she heard the sounds of the aliens around her screeching in pain, the sound of gunfire. Then silence as her body collapsed to the ground and everything went still.

* * *

"How is she?"

"Oh she'll be fine, just seems to be a bit exhausted is all. It was quite a show."

"She could have killed you and you are saying how pretty the fireworks were? Man, you still have a few screws loose there Doc." The argument came from the edge of her consciousness as Freya felt the chill against her face. A grunt came from Doc as a hand went to her head.

"It may have gotten a little warm, but it wasn't all too uncomfortable. I felt a little better after the fact too. Besides, if you were around she may have been a little better. What did you have to go find that was so important?" Whatever Theodore was going to say was silenced as Freya let out a groan, green eyes opening to see the blue sky through the destroyed rooftop. Doc appeared next to her, his face looking down as he knelt beside her. "Welcome back to the land of the living Miss Sinclair."

"What happened?" An agitated grumble followed by the hollow kicking of metal against concrete came from in front of her as Doc helped her sit up.

"You blew up, what else?" Theodore replied as he knelt down at the melted remains of the Archon, his helmet still on as Sophie hovered beside him. "Somehow, you managed to melt down every Fallen in the room without leaving a scratch on anything else. Unfortunately, you also melted down the warp drive the Archon had as a trophy apparently."

Freya groaned slightly, her head was pounding as she looked around the room. Her eyes soon fell upon a figure laying against a cargo container, covered with a cloak. A hand grasped her shoulder firmly as she made to crawl the short distance over to it.

"You shouldn't…" Freya slipped from Doc's grip, making her way over to the fallen figure. She reached out for the cloth, hesitating slightly before pulling it away. A choked sob escaped her lips as she curled up in front of the female Exo, clutching at her cloak as she rocked slightly on her knees. The remaining eye of the Exo was dark, the torn and shredded left half of the Exo's head was nothing more then torn metal and wiring, along with small drippings of hydraulic fluid as it stared out blankly into space. She still clutched the core of her ghost loosely in her metal hand, but was otherwise silent, just another piece of scrap.

Theodore looked up at this, clenching his fist as he gave a low growl. He grabbed the discarded scout rifle that was on the ground, stalking up to Freya as he roughly pulled her up by the collar of her coat, pushing her against the metal container.

"Enough! This is what happens every day, and there's nothing you can do about it! Your training, your focus, your purpose is to be a Guardian now and you need to accept that." He tore the cloak from her hands and replaced it with the rifle against her chest. "Sitting around and crying isn't going to bring anyone back, the only thing we can do is move forward, take another shot. If you dwell in the past then you die, plain and simple. You have the ability to make something of yourself, and do more than you ever could before. But the one thing you have to remember is that eventually, you will fail."

Freya stood numbly as she looked down at the ground, her hands holding the rifle to her chest out of automation rather than will. Theodore took her chin in his hand, pulling it up roughly to make her look at him. "If you want to make a difference, you can't linger on the 'What if?' and 'If only'. You have to accept the here and now and make yourself stronger."

"How…?" Freya's voice croaked quietly, her eyes red from the tears as Theodore released her chin and took a step back.

"By not blaming yourself for things you couldn't fix." He turned, heading out the loading bay doors they came in. Doc gave him a look as he strode past, and was thankful for his helmet obscuring his face as he bit out an order. "Get her back to her ship, I'll get the core from the other one."

Doc gave a nod as he turned to look back at Freya, stepping up to her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes continued to stare straight ahead as she held the gun to her chest, seemingly lost to the empty space before them. He went to take away the rifle when he noticed that she was holding it properly, ready to go at a moment's notice. He looked back up to her face, making his decision then.

"Miss Sinclair, do you wish to be a Guardian?" She was silent for several moments before her eyes found his.

"Yes." Doc gave a nod, patting her on the shoulder as he turned away.

"You'll do fine then, let's go home."


	6. Pudding

Freya was running across the frozen earth, breath quick as she slid behind a rock as cover.

_Thud._

The barrel of her scout rifle slipped around the rock as she took sight through the small targeting glass.

_Thud…Thud._

Gunshots echoed through the air next to her, followed by bursts of plasma as small bits of rock bounced off the front of her helmet.

_Thud, Thud Thud._

A cry escaped her lips as the dregs came from her left, an attempt to flank when flames burst from her arm.

_Thud Thud,_ **_WHOOSH_ ** _!_

"Woah! Easy there champ!" Brick exclaimed as he backed off, quickly pulling off the now aflame punch mitt and throwing it to the ground. Sonya doused it with the water bottle she had in her hand, coughing as the steam and smoke washed over her. Brick went to stomp out what little flame remained when it suddenly went out, his mechanical eyes blinking on and off at Freya.

"Sorry.." Freya said weakly, shaking the hand that had lit the mitt aflame. Brick gave a sigh, checking his metal hand for any sign of damage.

"If I knew that thing had ticked you off so much, I wouldn't have worn it." He held up his hand, letting the small joints roll his fingers open and closed flawlessly. "Nothing to worry about though, I seem to be fine."

"Thank goodness for small miracles." Sonya muttered, waving away the lingering smoke. Freya gave a small groan, looking down at the remains of the training glove on the floor. Even after another month of training and missions outside the city walls with Theodore or Doc, it was still difficult to control the powers she had been gifted, with the flames coming alive at the most inopportune moments. At least she only took out a glove this time.

"So what was it this time?" Brick asked, pulling off the other mitt as he took a seat on a nearby bench. He and Sonya were happy to help her train in a little self defense, and they were off in a small corner of the training levels practicing some unarmed combat, Titan style. Freya shook her head, unwrapping what was left of the tape Sonya had wrapped on her hands.

"I was remembering the mission Theodore took me on a couple days ago, had a close encounter with a Fallen Dreg."

"I take it you won?" The destroyed wrappings on her right hand were discarded next to the burned mitt, and Freya began on the other hand.

"I may have melted it's head off it's shoulders…" The lower half of Brick's jaw went askew in a smirk as Sonya gave her a clap on the back that had Freya pitching forward slightly.

"Atta girl. See Brick? I said that she would be alright." Sonya remarked slyly as she wrapped an arm around Freya's shoulders, pulling the smaller girl closer as Freya smiled nervously.

"So am I to assume then that all that talk of worry was for nothing? One must wonder exactly how you express things so clearly one moment, yet say another thing the next. Perhaps you can enlighten me the next time Sonya." An unladylike snort came from the red head as she rubbed her hand affectionately over Freya's head, pushing down at the same time.

"Not in front of the children I won't." Brick chuckled lowly as Freya distanced herself from Sonya slightly, running a hand through her hair as she grabbed the towel and water bottle she had brought with her.

"Really? Well with the pitch your voice makes in the evening, one can wonder if perhaps they can hear it down in the city. Let alone the quarters next to-" He could have kept talking even as Sonya clapped his metal jaw shut with a heavy blushed look, but settled for a look of amusement that only an Exo could give. Freya gave a small cough on the statement, throwing her towel around her shoulders as she slipped away with a simple.

"I'll leave you two alone then, thanks for the training." Brick gave her a small wave as he pulled Sonya's hand down.

"Let us know if you want to do some more practice, just leave the matches at home next time if you can." She gave an embarrassed smile and nod, disappearing amidst the ocean of exorcise equipment and weight sets that the other Guardians in the tower were using. Her eyes followed the floor pattern as she made her way to the lifts, ignoring the looks a few of the Guardians gave her. Some were eyeing her up in appreciation, but the few that witnessed her display held a hint of apprehension in their eyes.

_They should be afraid…_

The lift doors hissed shut in front of her as Freya leaned back against the cool metal and listened to the hum of the elevator take her towards the living quarters of the tower. Her mind went through the steps she had learned in the past month; contain, breathe in, let it rise, breathe out, let it fade. The soft chime of the lift drew her eyes as the doors opened on a sub level just before her floor, blue eyes finding her own as a shout came from behind her room mate.

"Better run, she'll steal your soul if you aren't careful!" An awoken woman with light blue hair shouted, her face in a sneer as her more mousy friend pulled her away.

"Careful, that's the new singer. I heard she isn't stable…" Freya gave small scoff, the lift doors closing behind her roommate as she stood in the center of the lift facing the doors.

"I guess neither one of us are too popular." The woman gave a small shrug as she continued to face the door. Freya bit her lip, stepping up next to her as she gripped her towel out of nervous fidget as she noticed her room mate's dirty clothing and rifle slung across her shoulder. "How was your mission this time?"

The woman glanced to the side at her, glowing blue eyes looking over her slightly before the lift chimed and the doors slid open to their level. "It was fine."

"Oh." Freya followed just behind as they took a brisk pace down the hall, passing by another Awoken who gave a sneer at her roommate. It was ignored, the door to their small apartment coming up shortly. Freya glanced out the large window across from the door, putting a hand on her stomach as she noted how late it was getting. The rifle was already on it's spot on top of the desk as the door hissed shut behind Freya, cloak hitting the bed.

"Did you have dinner yet?" The woman paused mid unclasping of her armored jacket as she turned to look at Freya with a confused look.

"Why?" Freya gave a small shrug in return.

"I was getting hungry, and thought we could get something to eat after we freshen up…" The woman's stomach seemed to take that moment to growl in response, a small sigh escaping her as she pulled her jacket off and let it fall to the floor next to her bed.

"I'll get something later."

"What are you so scared of?" Freya could hear the snap as her room mate's head turned quickly in a sharp glare. A shiver went down her spine, and wether it was just stupidity or courage, Freya returned the look with a raised eyebrow. "Well?"

"I'm not afraid of getting something to eat."

"Then we can go after our showers."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not!"

"Why does it matter so much?"

"Because it's what friends do!" The woman was speechless at this, looking at Freya with a look that seemed lost for several moments.

"Friends…?" Freya gave a small nod, then a shrug as she looked away slightly with a small blush on her face. The concept alone seemed foreign to her as the woman watched Freya try to explain herself.

"I mean, if you want. I mean, I'm still relatively new to the tower and we're room mates, so it would only be natural to you know…hang…out?" Smooth Freya, way not to sound like a complete lunatic dork. She berated silently to herself as Freya nervously flickered her eyes from her room mate to an interesting spot on the wall behind her. The uncomfortable silence seemed to stretch on for longer than seemed necessary as Freya nervously played with the end of the towel around her neck, the water bottle in her hand in a death grip.

"I..never had a friend before." The woman said slowly, causing Freya's eyes to jump back to her. The usually stern and composed face was of confusion and uncertainty all in one, she had been caught off guard in the one place she didn't expect to see anything coming. It was, intimidating. No, this young woman before her could never intimidate her. She was the faceless hunter, no emotion, no regrets, no one to say goodbye to. A chilling rush of surprise shot through her spine as a small hand fell on her arm, her body jumping slightly as the woman quickly backed off a half step as though burned.

"S-Sorry! If you don't want to do anything that's fine, I-"

"Fine." Freya jumped slightly at her room mate's raised voice, instantly silent as the woman looked uncomfortable before her, refusing to look directly at her. She repeated herself in a calmer tone. "Fine…Just, let me get ready first…"

Freya nodded dumbly, the woman disappearing behind the door to the bathroom with a soft hiss from the door marking the moment that Freya was allowed to breathe again. The woman spent several moments on the other side of the door, just resting against it as she tried to process the sudden turn of events. A part of her was jumping in some way, a feeling in her chest akin to the rush of vertigo she experienced when having to jump from on high before activating her boosting just before touching the ground, and her arm. Gingerly she touched the place where Freya had touched her, she had a similar feeling when her body had moved on it's own to comfort the girl during her light show, the touch still warm. The woman instantly let a hand fly to her forehead, it was warm but not too hot, a look in the mirror over the sink showed no unnatural discoloration, save for a small tinting from flush cheeks. She gripped the edges of the metal wash basin and looked herself in the eye, glowing blue irises staring back at her unflinchingly.

"I. Don't. Care." She said slowly to herself in the mirror, letting it sink in before turning on the shower and stripping down, turning the water to cold as she ignored the small voice that nagged at the back of her mind.

_'_ _Liar.'_

* * *

The tram down to the city was quiet, Freya stretching her legs out as she looked down towards the lights of the city below. Neither of the two women had anything other than their usual wear of long red coat and black scarf-hood, it wouldn't matter either way according to the woman that sat opposite of her with her eyes closed and arms crossed over her chest.

"Do you go to the city often?" A small grunt of affirmation was the only reply Freya received, a small frown tugging at her lips. So much for a small amount of conversation to fill the silence.

A small chime signaled the reaching of the station, Freya having to stand quickly to follow her room mate off the tram. Freya watched then as the woman passed by a larger Awoken man, receiving a hard shove into the guide rail as she passed by along with a sneer, she did nothing in response. Freya glared at the man, watching him give her a smirk of satisfaction before gripping the rail himself out of habit. The woman glanced back at the man's cry of pain as he clutched his wrist, her eyes falling on the rapidly cooling rail as Freya quickly made her way over to her.

"So, where to?" Freya chirped, looking please with herself as she looked up at the woman with glittering green eyes. She made a small squeak of surprise as the woman grabbed her elbow roughly and dragged her quickly away from the tram station.

"That was completely unnecessary." She ground out as her grip on Freya slipped down to the girl's wrist, still holding tightly as she dragged the smaller girl along.

"I think he deserved it." Freya found herself pushed roughly against the wall of the building they were passing by, startling a few people who rushed past quickly as the woman's eyes were upon hers.

"I never asked for your pity!"

"I'm not pitying you! That guy was an asshole, he deserved it!"

"I don't need you to defend me."

"I'm not going to let someone push you around just because you think you don't belong." The woman glared at Freya, her grip lessening from where her hands rested upon her arms as she took a small step back. "Friends look out for each other…"

The anger vanished at the soft spoken words that Freya gave to her, try as she may the woman couldn't rekindle the desire to stay upset. All because of those damn eyes. The hands quickly left Freya's arms as she watched the woman take a breath and turn.

"The diner is this way…" Freya nodded mutely as she slipped in behind her room mate as they made their way through the streets of the city. The diner itself was a small hole in the wall, it looked like it had seen better days, but Freya supposed that added to the charm as the woman passed by a couple of old men sitting at the counter. She watched as the woman held up her hand with two fingers at the window to the kitchen before taking a seat at a small table against the wall, Freya making her way to sit opposite.

"Here you are Sugar." A waitress said in a chipper tone as she placed a glass of fizzing soda in front of the woman before turning to Freya, honey blond hair curled around her slender face. "What can I get your friend?"

"A coffee is fine, thank you." The woman eyed Freya as the waitress returned with a cup of the bitter liquid, sipping on her soda slightly.

"Clyde should have your order out in a few minutes. Didn't think you would bring anyone tonight, who is she Sugar?"The waitress leaned back against a stool next to the bar as she spoke to the woman.

"My room mate." The waitress gave a small clap of her hands and smiled.

"Well isn't that precious, I'm glad you finally decided to let one stay this time." The woman gave a small scoff in reply and took another sip of the sickeningly sweet beverage, the waitress in turn looked to Freya. "Sugar must like you if you haven't been scared off yet, I always told her she needed the company."

"IRIS! Stop bothering the customers and get back to work!" The waitress frowned, growling slightly in annoyance as she slipped off the stool with a huff and went back behind the counter to serve the other patrons in the diner as her boss yelled at her from the kitchen. Freya gave a raised eyebrow at the unusual waitress before turning back to her room mate.

"Come here often I take it?" Freya got a small shrug in response as the woman ran her fingers along the side of her glass.

"It's quiet here." The woman said simply, her eyes flicking up to the front of the diner then back down at her drink. Freya smiled hesitantly, covering her mouth with her cup as she took a sip herself, letting out a small sigh of relief. At least the coffee was decent here, the stuff they offered in the tower seemed little more then sludge some days. Her thoughts drifted to the woman in front of her, how upset she had been when Freya had reacted out of anger at the man who had pushed her. That's just what friends do, they act randomly for no other reason, right?

Her train of self doubt and questioning was derailed as the waitress put down two plates in front of them on the table, causing Freya to jump slightly and quickly look down at the meal before her. At least the hamburger and fries wouldn't accuse her of staring at her roommate creepily while lost thought. They ate in relative silence, Freya didn't question the choice of meal, truth be told it was nice to have such an unhealthy treat after so long. The woman offered no attempt at conversation either, pale silver hands moving deftly as they plucked the steak fries from the plate and slipped them past her lips, an unconscious lick of the fingers drawing Freya's eye every so often.

"Your friend want some dessert as well?" Iris asked as she took the cleaned plates from the table, placing them on the tray she held at her hip as she placed another glass of soda in front of the woman.

"Oh, no thank you. Feels like I'm going to burst as it is." Freya laughed nervously at the pale arch of an eyebrow, it was a lie, but she would never know. Iris gave a shrug, giving a small 'Be right back' as she took the plates to the back. Freya cleared her throat slightly, her room mate's gaze upon her instantly. "This is a nice place, thank you for showing it to me."

"Sure, don't mention it." She replied lowly, looking off to the side as her fingers ran across the droplets of condensed moisture on her glass of soda, the tops of her nails clicking lightly against it as she attempted to ignore the gaze from those green eyes. Luck seemed to be in her favor as Iris returned with a small bowl an spoon, setting it down in front of the woman.

"Just made it this morning, enjoy Sugar." Freya blinked slowly at the item before the woman in front of her. Pudding, with two thin twirls of cookie sticking out of the what seemed to be vanilla flavored pudding, and a slice of strawberry on top. Neither woman moved for several moments, a blush forming across the woman's face as she set a firm glare on Freya.

"Whatever happens in the next few moments, are not to be repeated of outside this diner. Am I understood?" A small nod was all that Freya was allowed to give before the woman picked up her spoon and took a large bite of the pudding in front of her. Freya didn't know weather to laugh or look away in embarrassment at the moan of satisfaction that came from the woman, followed by the almost child like delight in her face as she dug into the sweet confection in front of her. The stoic woman, who showed next to no emotion other than indifference or anger, was currently acting like a small child having been given the largest bowel of ice cream in the world. In the end Freya found herself resting her chin on her hand as a small smile played across her lips at the show, it was cute in it's own way.

The show didn't last long, the bowl was small sadly and the woman finished it quickly. Probably because she had company it went by so fast, something told Freya that it usually took a little longer to have that particular treat. It wasn't until they were in the tram back to the tower that Freya realized how personal this must have been for her, to have shown Freya something of her life beyond the tower, beyond being a guardian. It was just a small bit, but it made Freya think. Even after loosing everything, one could move on with their life, they could find their own purpose in life. Green eyes drifted up over the form of the woman, her eyes closed as she leaned back against the chair on the tram, breath coming softly as her hair hung over her left shoulder. The air was cool in the rest of the tram and outside, several of the other guardians on it covered up in their coats or cloaks. Only Freya and the woman had their coat open and cloak loosened, the air was pleasantly warm after all.

* * *

The Dreg screeched in pain as the helmet it wore began to corrode from the bottom up where a hand gripped at it's neck, it's flailing limbs shrinking within their wrappings before making a dry cracking sound as Theodore threw it aside. He took a breath, rubbing at his shoulder where the plasma burn had already finished healing, the fabric of his armor and under armor knitting together in particles of light to cover the exposed skin.

The cold wind howled through the rusted husk of the building that housed the entrance to the war-mind's bunker, gunfire echoing from outside as he peered around the corner at Freya who was crouched behind a large piece of metal roof as she exchanged gunfire with the Fallen who took cover within the rusted hull of a patrol boat that had long since been beached upon the frozen earth.

The Vanguards had assigned them to patrol duty today, asking them both to investigate the Fallen activity near Rasputin's bunker. Despite the regular patrolling and forceful dissuasion by guardians destroying their equipment and thinning their ranks, the Fallen continued to launch raids in an attempt to hack into the old war-mind and learn it's secrets. It troubled the other Vanguards that they were continuing their attempts, which only seemed to increase in a frantic frenzy to acquire the guarded secrets. If the Fallen were scared, then something must be happening.

"All clear inside, think you can hold them off a little longer while I take out the relay point?" He asked Freya through their comm channel, the sound of semi automatic gunfire drowning out slightly as his helmet muffled his surroundings for the reply.

"I think so, just don't take too long." Theodore gave a small smirk as he turned to the transmitter that was currently speaking in old Russian.

"What's the matter, you have a date tonight you need to get to?"

"It's not a date! I mean, I just don't think I have enough ammunition for all of these things." He chuckled slightly as he pried off an access panel to start ripping out the wires and fry the components, that would last a little longer then just shooting it full of holes like some guardians did. His hand paused as he had the first batch of cables in his hand, the thin pulsing lines of light flashing before him as the thought came.

"Sophie, do you think you can piggyback on their signal into old Rasputin?" He asked softly, his ghost materializing next to him.

"I think so, why?" Theodore pulled his hand away from the in tact cables, glancing behind him to make sure nothing was coming up behind him.

"Gimmie old betsy and get to work, see if you can find anything on that woman, Lisette." The familiar weight of a sniper rifle fell into his arms as Sophie called it from the portable vault system in her databanks, Theodore moving back to the doorway and laying prone as he set up to help Freya from afar.

"I'll try, but I can't promise that Rasputin won't see me trying."

"Just snatch and grab Soph, try to pick up data on that project while you're at it. Maybe he will want to safeguard that more then a personnel file." A Vandal's head slipped into view within his scope, bursting into ether as the shot echoed around him and he operated the bolt action to bring the next round into place before sighting his next target.

"It's not that easy to trick a war-mind Theodore, they were built to counter such attacks as well as manage the defense network." Another shot echoed around them as her shell expanded and contracted within the data field, the blue energy pulsing as she worked.

"I have faith in you, besides…" He paused, squeezing off three more rounds as a flare from a miniature sun erupted next to the entrance of the cabin, forcing the Fallen hiding inside to scramble out the windows before slumping over dead. Magazine empty, he ejected it and loaded a new one, working the bolt action yet again. "Maybe he's a little rusty?"

"Doubtful…" Sophie deadpanned, her shell spinning around the energy field as it brightened and dimmed in intensity from her work. Several more minutes passed before the gunfire ceased, the remaining Fallen having either fled or lay dead as Freya made her way slowly up to where Theodore lay, still looking down the scope of his rifle. He looked up at her after a few moments.

"Better, but it felt like you were holding back." Freya gave a small shrug, her helmet hiding her face behind it's polarized screen as she rested against the wall after sliding down it.

"Just trying to control it like you say to do."

"No, you're holding back because you are scared. You can't be afraid of using it or you won't be able to bring it to the maximum potency." She glared at him from behind her visor.

"You're the one telling me that I could blow up at any minute! How am I supposed to just let go out here if I need to control it so much every other second?"

"Because you aren't supposed to let it go out all at once, you simply need to realize the amount of energy you need to use in order to achieve the effect you desire."

"Then show me, I haven't seen you use any of it once yet. Can you even do what you are trying to teach me?" Theodore was silent for several moments after Freya's challenge, it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up from the erie calm he presented. Slowly he rose from his prone position, standing up slowly as sweat began to fall from Freya's forehead.

"Up." She stood instantly, the tone in his voice commanding as she began to feel stuffy in her coat. He pointed towards where she once was, the sparse snow trampled down from her time under cover. "Put a solar right there, use all you have."

Freya looked at him oddly and he gestured again, goading her on. She nodded slightly and took a breath, taking a step forward as she gathered the hot energy from within her to her palm, throwing the small grenade like ball of energy to the cover spot. It burst into a small sun, roughly double the size of herself. The heat wave from behind her was near scorching as a similar grenade fell next to hers before expanding as it activated, rapidly engulfing hers in radiant light and forcing her to step back from the intensity of the heat that she felt from within the building. Freya's eyes were wide at the display, watching it quickly burn itself out and fade, leaving behind nothing but a large bare patch of ground.

" That there took me fifteen years to get to, and even then I can only hold it for about a minute before it burns out." The chill slowly returned as Freya looked to Theodore sheepishly. "The power I have seen come from you can overtake that ten times over, and you don't even break a sweat. But if you are forever afraid of it then you will never reach your full potential. Freya, remember what I said about how many warlocks show up as Sun-Singers fresh out of the gate?"

"None do…" Freya spoke quietly, Theodore giving a nod as he bent down to pick up his sniper rifle, bouncing it in his hand as he looked down at it.

" There's something special about you, the things you can do with your powers when you're upset or happy. It seems to flow with you, react to the slightest whim you give it. I wasn't lying before when I said that it's alive, it feeds on us as we exist with it, giving us strength. A symbiosis of energies if you want to be mystical about it." He lifted the rifle up, scanning the landscape with the scope as he spoke softly. "It won't help you though if you neglect it, and refuse to trust that it won't burn those you don't want it to burn. Understand?"

Freya nodded in reply, looking straight out at the rusted and broken hulls of the ships before her. Theodore gave a sigh as he lowered his rifle, turning to speak again when a loud exclamation of feedback followed by what sounded like a curse in Russian sparked from beside them. Sophie's shell clicked shut as the terminal started to smoke, the lights flickering out from within.

"Sophie?" The little blue ghost spun around, looking at Theodore with her glowing blue eye.

"I got it."


	7. A Game of Fire

"Hold still."

"I don't see what the sudden fascination is with me that has you so- AHH!" Ghost yelped as Freya managed to pull off one of his points, looking over the shell closely as he pulled at her hand. "That is not a toy, put that back!"

"How does it even connect? Is it magnetic?" She mused as the shell in her hand flattened into four triangles of resin like material when she pressed it between her fingers, watching it snap back together as she let it rest on her palm, interesting. Freya sat back against the wall on her bed, inquisitive green eyes roaming over her ghost as she plucked and prodded at it. A lump hidden under a large green blanket on the bed across from her shifted slightly, causing her to pause and allow Ghost to shake himself free, his missing shell floating up to him and attaching with a slight click.

"Hey, I wasn't done." Ghost turned to her half whisper shout, giving her the best glare he could manage.

"I am not your idle fascination to be taken apart and put back together into strange configurations just because you can't sleep!" Her lips puckered out in a pout as she put her head back against the wall and shut her eyes. The screen above her roommate's bed shifted to a view of the night sky, the moon shining brightly above as clouds passed in front of it, blocking what scarce light it gave off.

"That looked like it hurt, did that hurt? I bet it hurt, must have to make you so upset." Solomon asked as he floated up next to Ghost.

"No it didn't hurt…" Ghost deadpanned, causing Solomon to shift in uncertainty.

"Really?"

"Go try for yourself, trust me." Freya cracked an eye open at the two ghosts, watching the low toned conversation as Solomon seemed to fidgeted in the air. She wasn't awake because she wanted to be, taking apart her ghost for the fun of it. It's just her mind wouldn't stop running, wouldn't let go of the thought of what Theodore could have been looking for in Rasputin's databanks. The official excuse was that the Vanguards had wanted information, that's why they sent him. Freya wasn't convinced, if the Vanguards wanted something done, they wouldn't send a rookie warlock and her mentor out for it. Not only that, but the way he wouldn't look at her when making the excuse back at the tower, it didn't sit right.

Freya gave a drawn out sigh and looked at the screen in front of her, maybe she was just overthinking things. It's not like Theodore would be planning something against the tower, right? Still, the thoughts of things that felt more like fantasy then reality rushed through her, causing her to feel conflicted. What should she do? What could she do.

A little blue light blinked in front of her, and her hands raised slightly to take hold of Solomon, watching his shell's plates shift slightly as her fingers ran over their surface.

"Oooh~ That tickles." Solomon giggled slightly as Freya shifted his plates around, mixing and matching the black and red bits of his shell. Ghost gave a suffering sigh, landing himself on Freya's desk as he muttered an insult. Freya didn't acknowledge it as her fingers moved on their own, shifting and pinching the ghost's shell like an old Rubik's Cube while her mind was else ware.

Information that only Rasputin had, information important enough to lie to her about. Freya knew it didn't matter for her, that she shouldn't matter. She frowned, what did it matter? It's not like everyone looks at her strangely, how they give her space in the halls and refuse to be in the same lift as her. Secrets upon secrets, whispers behind her back, it didn't make sense to be so upset. So why was she so…

"Ahh! Pain, pain, much pain!" Freya snapped back into focus, dropping Solomon as he landed in her lap. His shell was a jumble as the shell pieces stuck out at strange angles, looking much like a tennis ball with glass shards shoved in it. He groaned and floated up, the energy field reactivating and setting his panels right as a shiver went through him.

"Sorry Solomon…" His shell expanded and spun slightly before clicking back into place.

"I'm ok…I think. Just started to get a little hot in here all of a sudden, I thought you were going to melt my core." Freya had the decency to blush, putting her hands in her lap as she took a few breaths to calm herself down. An irritated groan was followed by the large blanket on her roommate's bed being flung to the far end, glowing blue eyes glaring at her in irritation from under messy silver hair.

"Stop trying to disassemble our ghosts, turn down the heat, and go to sleep." The woman ground out as she pulled at her shirt, opting to simply remove it before turning her back to Freya and laying down again. Freya released the breath she was holding, sliding down against the wall and letting her head hit her pillow. Her eyes found the discarded shirt on the ground before sliding back up to the silver skin across from her, her roommate's mood at some points was just as icy as the tone of her skin. When she had first seen the Awoken, she wondered slightly if they were cold because their skin was varying shades of blue or silver. Of course they weren't, it was just the effect of coming back from the rim of the system, her mind had rationalized after learning more about them.

Freya groaned slightly, turning to face the wall as she pushed down her own covers. Now her mind was going over the way people looked at her again, drifting back and forth between the similarities of her and the woman laying on the bed across from her. They were both once dead, both being brought back into a life they didn't know. They both seemed to be ostracized from their community, Freya for her powers being so unpredictable, her for not remembering anything about herself. Even so, they had found a mutual respect for one another, at least when it wasn't fear of being shot or stabbed taking effect.

The ceiling of their room stared down at her blankly as Freya shifted again, an arm going across her forehead as she stared up at it. Her eyes were beginning to ache, but they didn't want to close as her mind continued to compare things about them. Things that never really mattered or were obvious. They were both female, shared the same room, went out for dinner every so often. She seemed to take off her cloths more, but it wasn't unpleasant, her body was enjoyable to look at.

Freya's mind finally stopped on that one thought, and everything else cleared away. Carefully she turned her head to look across to the other bed, staring at the bare back as it's owner slept. She wasn't opposed to it, at least, not that she could remember. Despite knowing her name, knowing how she died, a scattering of past memories. Freya didn't remember anything. The words sat in her mind like a glaring sign she was oblivious to until now.

She couldn't remember exactly who she was.

Her body snapped up, one hand grasping the sheets while the other supported her. Everything had moved so fast, things being placed one after anther in front of her that she just followed them without thinking. Not once did she sit and think about her life before beyond small moments when her ghost was around, not once did she stop and mourn for siblings that she vaguely recalled. Even now, she tried to think back on herself, of her school that she was so poor at the physical education class, of the siblings she began to think she never actually had, even the supposed cat of a grandmother she could not even remember the face of. None of it came back to her.

Nothing at all…

Warmth blossomed over her shoulder, rippling down her skin as the woman let out a breath of irritation. It was still warm in the room, but now that girl…

" I thought I said to go to…sleep." Freya was gripping at her head with her hands, curled up as she shook while muttering to herself.

"Have to remember, have to remember, have to remember." Small drops of fire rippled across the room like rain, only this time there seemed to be more of them, and while they didn't burn it was starting to get hotter. The woman quickly slid off her bed, making her way to Freya as the woman muttered frantically to herself.

"Hey, snap out of it. It can't be that bad." The woman tried shaking Freya's shoulder, a small amount of panic settling in as it did nothing to stop the woman from her motions. Sweat was rolling down her and Freya as the temperature seemed to increase, Freya's skin warmer than usual as the woman placed a hand carefully to Freya's cheek, then another as she lifted Freya's face to look at her as she spoke sternly. "Hey! Snap out of it! Now's not the time to get upset!"

"I can't remember." The woman froze, eyes wide as Freya looked up at her with red rimmed eyes. "I can't remember, who am I?"

Impossible, this was a trick. A cruel attempt that seemed to piss her off more as her hands squeezed at Freya's face. "This is not the time to play games! I swear right now I'll wring your scrawny neck if you're…"

Those eyes. Those dead eyes, that seemed to lost, so empty. She had seen those eyes before, staring back at her in the mirror every day when she was brought back. The woman's grip lessened, her hands sliding down as Freya stared at her with those empty eyes full of tears.

"I can't…remember…Lisette.." Lisette? The woman stared down at Freya, the warmth of the room seemed to settle as the raindrops of fire lessened, seeming to fall only near them. Freya shifted forward, resting her head against the woman's chest as she cried softly. "Lisette…I can't…Lisette…"

The woman wrapped her arms around Freya, holding her as she cried and gently stroking her hair. Lisette, she kept calling out for Lisette like it was… Like it was her name. The woman sat there with Freya in her arms, staring at the wall in front of her. Memory loss amongst guardians was common for those who were revived by a ghost, most of the time though it was simple amnesia, the affected regaining memories as time went on. But no one was like her, no one forgot so completely like she had. The woman closed her eyes, pulling Freya down onto the bed as the woman calmed down, pulling the thin sheet over them both. Freya's hands wrapped around her waist, her mutterings seeming to call out for Lisette over and over. She would blame the exhaustion later in her mind as her lips descended upon the crown of Freya's head, holding the younger woman close.

"It's alright Freya, I'm here…Lisette's here."

* * *

"Well, nothing seems wrong. You are running a little warm under the collar though, are you sure you don't want to take a walk with me down to the medical level?" Freya said nothing, sitting at the edge of her bed as she stared out at a spot on Doc's armor. He gave a small noise of concern, leaning back on the chair that had been placed by the bed for him as he looked to the woman that had dragged him bodily from the fire team he was to accompany on a trip to Venus. Few could physically move a fully armored Titan, but being caught by surprise by the Awoken woman tended to be one of the few things that could, especially when it was because of a certain roommate that had apparently asked only for him. " You said she asked for me, but she hasn't said a word since I arrived. How long has this been going on?"

"Since last night." The woman bit out harshly, she was tired from not sleeping most of the night, and the irritation of having to go find some random field medic wasn't what she wanted to do with her morning. She should have just dragged Freya to the medical level and be done with her, and yet here she was. "Apparently she found it interesting to try to take apart our ghosts. I told her to stop, tried to go back to bed, then she started to have a panic attack."

Doc listened patiently as the woman explained the night before, disregarding the attitude as he gave a small nod of affirmation. Seemed like it was time for Freya to come to terms with reality, there was really nothing he could do here.

"Where are you going?" The woman bit out as doc stood, collecting his helmet and a shotgun from the desk.

"I'm afraid that I can't really do anything for Miss Sinclair at the moment. She's experiencing what most 'Reborn' class guardians usually go through, it's similar to PTSD. All we can do is be around her and make sure that nothing bad happens."

"Nothing bad? What the hell are you talking about?" Doc gave a suffering sigh, closing his eyes momentarily as he spoke to the irate woman before him.

"Right now she's lost and confused, she may be quiet now, but her mind could start being irrational at a moment's notice. You need to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't do anything drastic."

"How long of an eye?" He gave her a small shrug.

"Each case is different, some guardians take a few days, some can have symptoms for a few years. It all depends on how well she is able to cope with the reality that nothing she once knew is around anymore. The best therapy I've seen is just simple companionship, someone being around to help support her and keep her mind in the present." The woman gave him an icy glare, her teeth grinding together as she ground out.

" I am not her babysitter."

" You may not have a choice if she only responds to you." The woman gave a slight growl of annoyance and he pushed past her, pausing at the door with his helmet keeping it from closing behind him as he looked back at her. "Listen, just keep an eye on her for a few days. If she get's too much for you to handle then drop her off at the medical level, I'll come back to check on her when my mission is completed. Don't tell me that taking care of a young woman who doesn't remember most of her past is difficult for you?"

"Tch, asshole."

"I'll leave you to it then." The door hissed shut behind her as she looked at Freya, the woman staring out at the seat that Doc once occupied. The woman felt her entire body tense with rage, then relax as the sight seemed to sink in.

"Sorry…" The woman snapped out of her staring as Freya spoke, a smile not matching her eyes coming to her face. "I really lost it last night, didn't I?"

Freya gave a small sigh as the woman said nothing, watching instead as Freya took out a change of clothing from her dressers. A pale hand stopped the bathroom door as Freya was about to close it, refusing to turn to face the look on the woman's face.

"I'm not going to try anything. So don't feel obligated to watch over me, just do what you normally do and I'll do the same." The cold words stung a little, even if they were true and the woman had no intention of babysitting the other woman, they didn't have to sound so harsh. Freya pressed the button to close the door again, a small buzzer sounding that something was in the way causing her to let out a breath of frustration. "I said I'll be fine, so let me-"

"Who is Lisette?" The woman watched as Freya tensed under her scrutiny, her head lifting slightly in response. A heartbeat passed before the ebony haired woman responded in a small voice.

"I don't know…"

"You were calling me that last night, when you were panicking." Freya's head dipped down again.

"Sorry…" The woman shook her head.

"It's fine…I don't mind." The woman responded softly, earning a turn of the head from Freya. She caught the edge of those green eyes, clearing her throat as she let her hand slide from the door. "I'm doing some scouting later today, off in an area other than old Russia. You can tag along, if you want. Just don't take too long in there, alright?"

Freya didn't even have a chance to respond as the door slid shut between them, hiding the woman from her sight. She stared at the cold metal for several moments as her mind tried to process what just happened. Did her room mate just invite her out to a mission? Without threatening or speaking harshly to her? Several other questions flew by her mind, why was she being so nice? Why does she seem to care? Why help her? Did she really not mind the name? Could I call her that from now on? She didn't mind the name, so it was ok wasn't it? A sudden bang on the metal door made her jump as the woman's irritated voice came from the other side.

"Hurry up and shower already!" Freya let out a breath, that seemed more like her. Lisette, the name rolled in her mind as she stepped under the spray of water, seeming so familiar yet distant. Could she really call her roommate by a name born from stress?

The woman sighed as she leant against the door to the bathroom, listening to the shower run. Lisette, she wasn't opposed to the name, even if it may not really be hers. Still she wouldn't mind being called it, if only by Freya.

* * *

"Play it for me again Sophie." Theodore mumbled as he ran his hand through his hair, covering a yawn while the recordings in front of him played through again, a woman speaking out to him.

 ** _"_** ** _Experimental Overwatch Sentry Behavioral Analysis Test number twenty-seven, subject number 3VA-299-F. Or as we like to call her, Eva."_** The older Freya spoke, the camera panning over to a familiar looking female Exo that was once alive. Golden eyes blinked on and off as the Exo woman hung from chains coming from the ceiling, the lower half of her body missing as she looked to the scientist.  ** _"Hello Eva, I hope you don't mind helping us today."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Of course not Dr. Sinclair. How may I be of service?"_**  Theodore watched with hawk like eyes, analyzing the scene as the older Freya spoke with the Exo on screen, making notes on her clipboard every so often. This woman, Dr. Lisette F. Sinclair, who bore such a strong resemblance to Freya was the main focus of his attention. The files Sophie had recovered were still somewhat encoded, the process taking time even for her to decrypt most of the top level files that had been hidden away in Rasputin's memory banks. But from what was decrypted so far he could figure out at least this: This woman was not Freya, and yet she was. Something in his gut told him so.

 ** _"_** ** _That's very interesting Eva, did you feel compelled to do it, or do you think it was part of your program?"_** The recording played on, Theodore already having tuned out the voices he had heard a dozen times already for a focus instead on the picture. This woman had been a key figure in the creation of the Exos, machines so complex that only the ghosts could truly understand them enough to preform the required maintenance. This data he knew was a treasure beyond all compare, and could help many Exos that lived in the tower and the city. It could also destroy them. From what he had seen so far, there were specs upon specs, details of the hidden machinery behind the metal in specific joints or limbs. Enough raw knowledge to cripple any Exo he may encounter, and that was just scratching the ten percent of the surface that Sophie had decrypted. These overly complex machines were more than the tools or weapons they were seen as back then, they were an attempt at life itself, an attempt to be like the Traveler.

**_"_ ** **_-And it gave a low sound from it's throat as I touched it."_ **

**_"_** ** _How sweet, it must have liked you then. That's what cats do when they are happy, they purr."_**  The Exo woman tilted her head slightly, the small exposed servos in her body spinning and activating as it considered what the scientist was saying.

"Pause." Theodore sighed and put his head in his hands as he leant forward, rubbing his eyes with his palms.

"You don't need to watch it all in one sitting, there's still more data I need to decrypt after all." Sophie remarked as she hovered near him, her shell spinning around as the data field she projected expanded and shrunk as she worked. Theodore shook his head, standing up to stretch.

"I know Soph, but I don't want to let this go just yet. Theres no rush to decrypt all of the technical data, just the journals. I need to figure out this mystery or I'll never be able to sleep peacefully, it's my nature of things." Sophie gave a small 'humph' as her blue eye gazed up at him.

"You'll work yourself to death one of these days 'Sherlock'." Theodore gave a wry grin as he turned towards the bathroom to relive himself.

"Well then it's a good thing I have you to revive me if I do, 'Watson'. " He gave a sigh of relief after the fact, splashing a bit of cold water on his face before exiting the bathroom with a towel to wipe off the excess. His hand rubbed against the stubble on his face, he should shave soon least he look like the maniac people sometimes called him. "Think maybe I'll get some chow mein today, what do you think Soph?"

Theodore looked at his ghost as her shell had stopped, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Sophie?"

Sophie's shell shuddered softly, making the barest of turns as her eye stared out directly in front of her. Theodore waved his hand in front of the small blue eye before kneeling down level with it, giving one of the extended floating shell pieces a small tap.

"Talk to me Sophie, what happened?" His voice was quiet, serious, as he carefully studied his ghost. Her eye blinked off for a second, his hand already halfway up to pass through her data field before it blinked on again, hovering at the boundary of data and air. "Sophie?"

"Theodore."

"What happened? You ok?" Her blue eye turned to look at him, her shell slowly falling back onto her core.

"This data…" Theodore was still for a moment, waiting for her to continue before waving his hand in a continue gesture.

"The data…?" Sophie's shell clicked back into place, the blue tinted star turning up to look at her partner.

"This data… It has the Traveler's signature on it."

"How do you know?" He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as her little frame shook in a negative.

"I don't know exactly, I just, feel it. It's like the Traveler helped make this data, helped this Dr. Sinclair make the Exos."

"That's not possible, old earth humans made the Exos, thats what we know. Even what we found out so far proves it, giving us a face and a name. How would the Traveler be able to influence it all unless it could speak to them? It never speaks unless through…" Theodore paused, a piece of the puzzle sliding into place. " Through the Speaker."

"Yes." Sophie confirmed, hovering up a little above Theodore's head. "This woman must have been one of the first Speakers, it's the only way she could have been the lead on the project. It was her project, her  _child_ , all of them were."

Theodore reached for his data pad, scanning through the data that was already decrypted until he found what he was looking for. Medical evaluations for one Dr. Lisette F. Sinclair; blood test normal, no signs of disease or genetic ailments that was once apparently an issue-she used to have minor arthritis before the project's start along with a problem of nearsightedness- everything was in perfect condition, except. The word glared him in the face,  _Sterile._  This woman could never have children of her own, so she built her own, with the help of the traveler. Blood wouldn't lie, he thought as he scanned through the rest of the file.

"Theodore?" Sophie watched as he quickly stood, throwing his feet into his boots as he grabbed his coat on the way to the door.

"We need to find the Doc Soph, and Freya."

"What? Why? What about the data?" She flew after him as he made his way quickly to the lifts.

"It can wait. The game is afoot 'Watson', and I damn well hope I'm wrong."


	8. Sleeping Venus

"Freya? Freya open on up girl." Theodore called out as he pounded on the metal door with his palm, the sunlight streaking in from the window behind him. Doc Mendez had apparently been shipped off to Venus early morning, but even with that small hitch in his current plans Theodore figured he could improvise. Unless the day decided to be cruel to him. "Where the hell…Sophie, check inside would ya?"

Sophie's shell dissipated into light as she flew towards the door, reappearing moments later. "No one's inside Theodore, she seems to be out."

"Out where?"

"I'm a Ghost, not a psychic. Your guess is as good as mine." Theodore drew in a breath through his teeth, turning to stalk towards the lifts with his data pad gripped tightly in his hand. He pushed past a pair of guardians chatting in front of the lifts, scaring a mousy looking hunter as the doors opened on the coming lift earning him the lift to himself as he rode it up towards the tower's top. Wherever Freya was, he couldn't let her leave the tower just yet. That meant talking to Amanda and seeing if she could ground his student's ship due to a few missing parts.

The lift doors opened shortly again for him, his mind already running through the details and ways he could pull the information up. Start slow, get her to relax, then start pushing the key words to make her go into her past. Shouldn't be too difficult, there was always the liquor connection if things got too tight. At least it would dull the pain if he decided to use-

"Mr. Maxwell." Theodore's attention snapped instantly to the steady voice, looking towards the shadows in the small hall he was passing towards the courtyard. A robed figure stood just inside the shadow itself, white mask catching a glancing ray of light and seeming to illuminate itself within the shade as he held his hands clasped together in front of him in a neutral pose. The Speaker. "Walk with me, please."

It may have sounded like a request, but it was one that no Guardian would ever deny, and it was an order in Theodore's mind. He gave a glance to the courtyard, turning back to see the Speaker having begun his walk down the corridor. Theodore muttered a curse, turning down the corridor and caught up with the Speaker after several long strides. There was silence as the two walked, it unnerved Theodore slightly before the hooded white mask made the barest of turns in his direction.

"I trust all is well, Guardian." A statement with the hinting of a question, Theodore cleared his throat softly as he gave a clipped nod.

"Of course, Speaker. Just living the day to it's fullest like all the others." The Speaker made a soft noise of acknowledgement, letting his hands fall to his sides as they walked. Theodore's mind rushing through scenarios as the silence continued again, the Speaker doesn't single people out unless there is a situation or for other more public purposes. The checklist grew in his mind, there was the raid on Mars he did a few months back, getting the codes to the Cabal 'Exclusion Zone' so that Guardians could once more access the ruins of the old martian complexes. Perhaps it was the meeting he had with the Queen of the Reef weeks prior to the Mars stunt, Theodore had been considerably busy before being landed with Freya as a student…

" I am grateful that there are still days where one can allow themselves such freedom under the Traveler's light, still." The Speaker's mask remained ever facing ahead as Theodore looked to the man.

"Does something trouble you Speaker?" The corridor opened up to a large circular room, the open space staring directly out to the traveler as a large gyroscopic like machine spun slowly in it's never ending measuring and calculating. Rows upon rows of books lined the shelves and several small tables and stools off to the left of the entrance, a long tattered scroll spilling off one of the overflowing tables with odd glyphs and symbols caught in an ancient astrolabe seeming to catch a glimmer of light.

"Troubling, indeed. Do you know, that this machine before us has never required a drop of oil in which to lubricate it's motions since I have taken the mantel of Speaker? It was quite a long time ago…" Theodore remained silent as the Speaker spoke, watching the indiscernible white mask shift ever so slightly as it seemed to examine the machine in front of them. What was the speaker playing at this time? "Quite long ago indeed, almost as long as the old tales we used to tell the children, of the Darkness…"

"Every day the Darkness is being pushed back Speaker, one day the stories will rise again, for the light."

"Indeed." The speaker turned, stepping towards the bookshelves, taking a step upon the small staircase that led to where one usually found him, scrying over an old tome or scroll. "Lately however, I have been hearing tales of another time. Of secrets that were left buried for reasons that we have forgotten, until one disturbs them once more."

The Speaker turned on the staircase, looking down at Theodore as the man remained silent. One set of words flew to the forefront of Theodore's mind as the white mask that stared before him became imposing, as though it glared down at him from on high. He knew. Somehow, someway, the Speaker knew what he knew. The only question that went through Theodore's mind was how the speaker could know? Was it the Traveler whispering to him from the dead? Or was there some more tangible, more physical link…

Freya.

Theodore's sleep deprived mind slipped onto the conclusion quick enough. Even if she had been cornered, lead into the conversation, she was the only other person who could have known about anything. The feelings of betrayal sunk in steadily as he listened to the Speaker's words.

" It is my hope that these tales, do not reach the others, do not influence them wrongly. Oft has the good intentions of the past, given way to the ruin of the future." The Speaker spoke quietly, the tone of voice was clear. "I pray to the Traveler, that we do not see such a misfortune again."

"As do we all, Speaker." Theodore replied steadily as the white mask seemed to hold him in place a second longer before turning away to return to it's loft.

"May the light be forever with you, Guardian." And like that the spell was broken, Theodore giving a small nod of respect as his body turned allowing his feet to take him quickly from the chamber. It wasn't until he was hallway across the courtyard of the Tower's open top that he came back into the world, almost running into Holiday.

"Hey stud. Where you going in such a hurry?" She had on a smile that would have him stopping everything just for her had it been any other moment, her good moods were few and far between with what she had to deal with on a daily business. Holiday gave a small frown as he shook his head and looked off into the distance. "Teddy, what's wrong?"

"Nothin." She gave a light scoff as he rubbed at the stubble on his neck, keeping his eyes off hers as she pulled his other arm.

"Lay off the sweet talk why don't you…" Amanda muttered as she stepped up closer to him. "Now tell me what's got your mind all in a spin, you look like you were up a few nights in a row."

Theodore shook his head, looking around the courtyard carefully. A few guardians gathered near the postmaster building while others were at the cryptarch's tent, an old rifle in metal hands as he noticed an Exo talking to one of Master Rahool's assistants. Every glint of metal, every gliding movement meant to mimic human nature caught his eye as he carefully disassembled the Exo's arm in his mind.

"Theodore." He snapped back as Amanda shook his arm, looking up at him with a frown.

"Hey, um… You seen that kid, Freya round recently?" He asked as he tried to move past his uneasiness, and Amanda's eyes. A strange look passed over her face as she took a step back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Left earlier this morning I reckon, wouldn't know to be honest."

"You know where?"

"Venus possibly, probably following that fire team's trail. I wouldn't know exactly, was up to my elbows in an intake manifold." She caught his eye, her face a mask of guarded hesitation. "Are we alright Theodore?"

"What? Of course we are Amanda, it's not that." He placed his hands over her shoulders. "Look everything's fine, just need to talk to Freya bout something important. Warlock stuff ya' know? Now you sure she went to Venus?"

She gave him a small nod, receiving a kiss on the lips before he quickly bolted away towards the hanger. He couldn't hear anything of what she may have shouted to him as his mind tuned out everything else, his focus set on his goal. Venus.

* * *

The woman, Lisette, was currently speaking to the gunsmith of the village they had arrived in on the outskirts of a place once hailed as the 'Windy City'. Now as Freya looked off into the distance at the old rusted towers, some covered in plant life it seemed as a few lay tilted or resting upon one another, it seemed that only the wind deemed itself the surviving occupant. The village itself they were in seemed to be what remained of an old suburban neighborhood, a few of the old houses repurposed into general shops, while several others seemed to be built up a little to further serve their old purpose. There was what seemed to be a victory garden on the corner of the old concrete street, taking up a fair portion of the land it was on as it's tenders moved about the plants in windbreakers. There was a slight chill in the air, but it didn't seem to stop the green of the plants that reached ever towards the sun.

"Here." Freya felt her coat shift as Lisette nimbly slipped her hands behind Freya, pulling at her belt as she attached something to the right back side of her hip. "That tower smith may have decent weapons, but you can always trust an outlaying village to have a solid gun that won't break at a moment's notice. I don't really care how much mystical power you may have flowing through you, a reliable backup always helps."

Freya looked down at the relatively small hand cannon that was now attached to her hip, the dark matte colored metal sitting there quietly as her coat fell over it and covered it. She looked up at the face hidden under the black hood, the glowing blue eyes looking over her as Freya gave a small smile. "Thanks…"

Lisette gave the briefest motion of a nod before turning and walking down towards the old city, rifle upon her shoulder. Freya followed along silently, her eyes wandering around the small village as she stopped when Lisette stopped, giving quiet responses to questions when asked by her, or nothing at all as they made their way out to the edge of the village. Freya watched as Lisette pulled out a small pair of binoculars, looking through one of the tubes at the old city in the distance before wrapping it up and slipping the small item back into a hip pouch.

"People around the village have been saying that strange creatures are moving around in the outskirts of the city, something bout wails and screeches at night."

"Is that why we're here?" Lisette gave a small shake of the head.

"Not in the slightest. Still, I don't want to be caught unprepared. So whatever it is that's making it hard to move on right now, drop it. I don't want to be shot in the back because you aren't paying attention."

"It's not that easy." Freya snapped, glaring at the other woman as blue eyes glared down at her. She held the gaze for several moments before turning away with a small huff. "I just…don't know how to do it yet…"

"Neither do I." Lisette said simply, turning from Freya's gaze as she took a step towards the overgrown road. "Solomon, sparrow."

"Yes ma'am." Solomon materialized next to her, his shell expanding briefly as Freya watched particles of light form in front of him, shaping into a long pointed form that condensed and darkened into a hovering length of metal with a seat that looked like an old motorcycle. Solomon vanished shortly after his work was done to wherever the ghosts go when not needed as Lisette slung a slender leg over the Sparrow, the vehicle bobbing slightly in the air.

"Mount up, I want to reach the city before nightfall."

"I don't have one…" Lisette turned with a frown to Freya.

"You've been around for two months and you don't have a Sparrow? Do you even know how to ride one?" Freya shook her head, Lisette ground her teeth slightly as she thought. Stupid teacher of hers teaches everything but how to ride, figures. She gave an annoyed growl, pulling herself up slightly on the seat. "Get on then, I don't have time to teach you right now."

The back of the Sparrow dipped slightly as Freya slipped on, shifting her scout rifle to her back from where it was resting clipped to her chest. Lisette felt Freya's arms wrap around her waist hesitantly, putting up a foot into the stirrup behind her.

"Curl your legs up behind us and hold on with your thighs, try not to bend anything if you push on it with your foot." Freya did so, the machine sluggishly propelling itself forward as Lisette leant forward, hooking her other foot up as they picked up speed. The light of the sun seeming to quickly descend into the night sky.

* * *

The indigo glow of void energy sparked every so often as the shock rifle's rounds peppered against it, causing Gregory to flinch ever so slightly as he let his practiced hands reset the hunter's tibia and fibula bones. The man's shout of pain was drowned out by the sound of gunfire, the rapid rumble of a heavy machine gun followed by several rattled bursts of a pulse rifle as the rest of his squad ducked out from cover of the shield the Titan had erected around their fallen comrade. It was the man's own fault for wanting to be a show off, Gregory sighing slightly as the mesh weave of the hunter's armor tightened automatically, effectively splinting the leg as he pulled a small hypo-needle from a hip pouch on his belt and jammed it into the other leg.

"Fuck! What the hell Doc?" Gregory grinned slightly in a small amount of satisfaction, schadenfreude at it's finest.

"That's so you can walk more than a few steps at a time. Next time don't try the summersault, just drop straight down, I'm sure the judges will take off less points." His patient muttered a few choice words on where to put his advice as he patted the injured leg before taking up his shotgun, the connection to his shield was starting to become too much as a migraine began to settle in behind his eyes. "How's our exit strategy?"

"Still on paper I'm afraid." The mechanical voice of the Titan with the heavy machine gun answered, another rumble of bullets leaving the gun as Gregory watched another three Dreg fall haphazardly to the ground.

"Don't think it's even on paper, more like stuck in the pen." Retorted Coral, the warlock shoving a round into the rocket launcher her ghost had brought out for her. She jutted herself out of the shield, the energy leaving behind a faint violet glow to her personal shields. "Noise!"

The rocket impacted against the old academy's staircase, chunks of stone and bits of Fallen unlucky enough to be caught in the blast scattering in a combination of dust and ether as it clouded the air.

"Good boy Giant, thats how you show them your friendship." Coral cooed to her rocket launcher as she patted it before shoving another round into it's loading chamber. Gregory's shield took that moment to begin dissipating, the world seeming to shift as the pocket dimension merged again with the proper one. "Uh oh."

"That's our queue to leave, up we go Klein!" Said hunter grunted in pain as Gregory yanked him up after offering his hand, the Exo titan laying down a barrage of cover fire as the two men ambled over the mound of dirt and rock made from the Fallen Skiff that had long been embedded into the ground from another group's efforts, making their way into the Ishtar Academy proper. Another dull 'whoomf' sounded behind them followed by an explosion as Coral sent another rocket down range, the woman's shout of excitement sounding out of place in the skirmish. Warlocks always were a strange bunch, if they weren't cold and serious or deep in study of some strange ancient thing then they seemed like certified psychopaths at times. Nothing they ever did seemed to reside on the level of normal, save for one or two Gregory personally knew.

Motion shifted from his left, a rippling in the air as the slight crackle of electricity sparked through the active camouflage making him bodily turn himself and Klein to the side as he raised his shotgun. The kick of the weapon firing one handed threw the muzzle vertical as the Vandal that was rushing at them was kicked back, a burst of ether exploding from where it's face once was. The sound of Klein's hand cannon echoed behind him six times as he watched the space before him ripple again, almost seeing the blue tinted eyes of the two stealth Vandals raising their shock blades to strike at him.

A pair of blades impacted with his shotgun, cutting into the metal as Gregory brought it down to block the strike, letting the weapon go as he put a quick right jab into the Vandal's face with a slight crunch and hiss of ether. He raised his arm to catch the next pair of blades on his armor when a force slammed into the first vandal, throwing it back into it's partner as the two flew off a short distance to the ground towards the other two of his fire team mates. Several quick rounds peppered the downed Vandals before Gregory caught a figure blinking into existence over him, a dark indigo energy arcing from the man's fist as he arced over the Titan. The energy ball split into several smaller orbs, peppering the remaining Fallen behind them like a shotgun of energy as Gregory gave a small shake of the head. Of all the warlocks he knew, this one was the one who took the figurative cake.

"Freya with you?"

"Nice to see you too Theodore." Gregory set Klein down against the old staircase as Coral smacked him on the back of the head, the two getting into an argument as their partner Exo took to watching the courtyard for signs of movement. "I take it this isn't a social visit."

"There's four of you here."

"Very astute, good to see you can still count. Our other two members are off doing a little reconnaissance on our intended target, we just got a little side tracked thanks to our resident acrobatic."

"Shove off!" Gregory ignored the outburst, looking at the way Theodore was shifting about uneasily, the man's face unreadable from under his polarized helmet as he fiddles with the chamber of his hand cannon, rolling it between his fingers. The Doctor came out again, and he stepped close to speak lowly to Theodore.

"What's the real reason you came all the way to Venus to find me?" Theodore shook his head.

"Is Freya with the other team?" Gregory's eyes studied Theodore as his body stood stock still, making him seem statuesque as he took in the situation.

"No, have you been sleeping?"

"No." Well that confirmed it, something was seriously wrong if Theodore gave him a straight answer. The man could dance around a minefield and still make the excuse that he never danced a day in his life without actually answering the question, this sent up a red flag instantly. "Been busy looking into things. Damnit girl where are you…"

Gregory took a small glance back at his fire team, the three of them giving privacy to the two men as they spoke amongst themselves, or in Klein's case to the rest of the fire team that was scouting ahead. Venus was a good three hours at top speed with the FTL drive, he and his fire team had been on surface another six. On Earth it must be nearing evening back at the tower, so thats just under forty-eight hours that Theodore may have been awake, even if he did catch a small amount on the way and let Sophie take the helm. Something that Gregory severely doubted happened.

"Why don't you head back up on into orbit, take a good couple hours of rest and let me know what happened."

"Doctor's orders?"

"A friendly bit of advice, Theodore." Theodore let out a curse, muttering quietly to himself as he shook his head. Doc gave a small resigned sigh, as Theodore glanced behind him calling for Sophie as he passed over a data pad she materialized for him.

"This can't wait." Gregory took the pad, quickly scanning over the files Theodore had opened on it before grabbing him by the front of the jacket and bodily dragging him around the corner of a doorway from his fire team as he gave a quick excuse, shoving Theodore against the wall as he held up the pad carefully and switched to a private comm channel to shout at him.

"What the hell are you doing with this!? Do you know how much shit this can give everyone if it got into Fallen hands? Into anyone's hands? What the hell gave you the bright idea to bring it HERE?" Theodore pulled down against the armored arm that was holding him up, his sleep deprived body not even giving the Titan the feeling like he was doing anything as he struggled.

"Look at the damn name!" Gregory did so, his grip not changing as he read the information before shaking his head.

"Just because there is a few similarities doesn't mean anything, this woman could be her mother for all we know. Maybe even a child."

"No one died seven hundred years ago at the cosmodrome Doc, there's too much of a similarity."

"Parents pass along their genes, it's not uncommon to look like your father."

"This woman's sterile." Gregory looked up at Theodore after a moment of silence.

"This is her daughter then?"

"Does Freya look like she had a kid out in the middle of a spaceport before she died?" The question disturbed him. No, Freya wasn't in any shape either prior to her death or not to have had a child. At least not that he knew, physiology was a strange thing after all. It was possible that she could have had a child a few years earlier in her life in her early twenties, but this wasn't known or able to be tested at the moment. Theodore was let down with a slight grunt, his feet almost giving way from under him. Loss of balance and co-ordination, it was a wonder he was able to focus enough to use a Nova blast like he created. Maybe that's why it shattered to begin with, Gregory thought as he was reminded of Theodore's condition. "Something is seriously not in line with things, and I am going to find out why weather you help me or not."

Gregory looked down at the data pad again, shutting it off before handing it back to the sleep deprived warlock who let his ghost hide it away. He gave a drawn out sigh as he changed his comm channel a moment to listen to his team, the target was found, this would be their only chance.

"Fine, but right now there's a Kell that my team and I have to kill Theodore, this is our only chance." He held up a hand as Theodore tried to talk again. "Those are my terms, your problem isn't as bad as this one, and it can wait. If anything it should wait until after you have had a good couple hours of sleep. Head back to the tower, get some shut eye, and I'll call you in the morning. Sophie, get him home. Doctor's orders."

"Yes sir." Sophie blinked into existence as Theodore slumped against the wall, the hand cannon falling from his hand and disintegrating into particles of light as Gregory pulled back his fist from Theodore's stomach.

"Ass…" Theodore vanished into particles of light as Sophie transported them to Theodore's ship with her recall system, Gregory just shook his head as he rejoined his fire team. That was the second time today he had been called that, still a few shy of the record though.


	9. Guardian Down

If the tightness of Freya's grasp around her stomach bothered her, Lisette didn't show it as she growled lowly from the screeching of metal under her after the jump the sparrow made over the narrow channel of water. If one could call it that, the old divider waterway was choked with thick green moss and cattails as what water was available spread out in a murky swamp that bled out onto the road further ahead. Large spruce pine trees grew intermittently where they could, breaking the aged concrete of the road if they were close and towering overhead from centuries of being untouched. Too much weight for the sparrow to handle properly, the movements slightly sluggish as Lisette carefully wove her way though the husks of rusted vehicles on the ruined road, careful to avoid an impact with the old aluminum and steel frames as they made their way into the old forest of steel and green.

Freya for her part was dead set on keeping her eyes closed, at least for the first few moments before and after the jump, her eyes cracking open as the sparrow cam to a stop before a traffic accident that was a few centuries old. Despite the rust having eaten away at most of the old vehicles, they were piled up in a manner that made it impossible to pass by Sparrow.

"Looks like we walk from here."

"Huh?"

"Get off the Sparrow…" Freya yelped slightly in alarm as the Sparrow tilted back, the weight off balance in the back as Lisette slid off herself. The Sparrow vanished into particles of light as Freya fell, landing on her rear with a grunt while Solomon floated nearby.

"Sorry…that looked like it hurt." The red and black ghost said, looking down at her as Freya pushed herself up from the ground and dusted off the slight amount of snow that had fallen within the open area when Lisette called for him. Freya shook out the numbness in her legs, looking around from where they stopped. Green had overtaken the city once more, evidence by the moss and trees that seemed to be carpeting the concrete and much of the buildings around her, broken only by the soft white caps of snow that gathered at the top most layer. To her left a large building stood, the dark red of the brick being worn and weathered as a large bird like sculpture of metal stared up at it's previous resting spot atop the old structure that seemed to touch the twilight sky peaking between the trees and buildings above.

"We have to go around, come on." The holographic projection Solomon was displaying within his data field collapsed as Lisette turned to an entrance of the large building, an old set of glass doors that was soon missing one of it's dirty panes thanks to a rough shove by the woman as the rotted wood collapsed upon itself. Freya followed quietly, taking in the old building as a light blinked on beside her from her ghost. The entrance-way led into an easily recognizable space, albeit seemingly updated with far more recent technology before falling into ruin if the dust on all the books were to be surmised.

"I thought most of the knowledge was gone, how is there still a Library here?" Freya gingerly picked up a hard covered book, brushing away at the dust on the cover to look at the imprinted words embossed upon it. 'Grimm's Fairy-tales'.

"Not everything could be saved, it's a wonder it's still around considering." Ghost replied, turning his light up towards the hole in the corner of the roof where most of the destruction was. Snow had filtered into the ruined area, covering the destruction around the opening, weather worn shelves partially toppled more due to the elements eating away at them stood silently in the dark. These keepers of knowledge would never give their secrets again, lost to time now and forever. A hand on her arm startled Freya out of thought as the book fell to the ground, the binding giving way as the yellowed pages slid out with a soft hiss as blue eyes glared at her in the darkness. Lisette tilted her head slightly to glance around her, listening for anything before settling with a soft growl of annoyance.

"We don't have the luxury of standing around, come on." She bit out quietly, her voice sounding harsher than she actually wished it to as she pulled Freya away from the front desk. Freya glanced back at the book as she was tugged away into the darkness of the old library, the scattering pages of ages old fairy-tales among the likes of "Red-Rose and Snow-White" being left alone now outside their protective shell to the elements to fend for themselves.

Another door took the two of them to open as they fought against centuries of growth and the rotted husk of a car that had crushed itself against the old red building, managing to give enough space for the women to slide through. The bitter chill in the air returned as Freya stepped out under the sky again, peeking up at the stars that she could see through old rusted metro line. Movement shifted in her eye, her hands reaching for the scout rifle on her back as again a hand was on her arm. Freya looked to Lisette, the woman's hood obscuring her face as she looked off into the distance, Freya turning back to the movement among the trees of the overgrown park. A narrow head with large pointed antlers stared back at the two women in watch as several others pawed and searched midst the snow for food, white-tailed deer. The buck continued it's vigil as the two women looked on, only turning away once it's charges vanished away into the overgrown city. All was silent again.

"Let's go, I want to set up camp soon." Freya gave a small nod of response as they followed the old metro line east, weaving and climbing over cars and barricades that stood in their way at times. Another open field greeted them at the end of the street, soon followed by a proud weathered statue of aged copper, the lion seeming to have been awaiting their arrival as the two women neared their destination. The building was lower then the rest, seemingly separated from the forest by the street and barricades placed along it. A few large walls of metal seemed to surround the building intermittently, once having been joined by lower walls as the makeshift fortress stood silent as it's guardian that stood watch over the south road. The place was a small fortress compared to the looming skyscraper across from it that seemed to be missing a few dozen floors of it's construction, a hole punched right through it as though it was used for target practice by giants.

"Is this some kind of base?"

"It was used in the past by Guardians and those before during the collapse." Lisette responded, looking up at the building as she searched the darkened alcoves. Freya turned back to the enclosed street that had become like a courtyard for the building, walled off from the rest of the ruins and devoid of the husks of metal that littered the streets before.

"I wonder why they abandoned it..." A small gust of wind was her reply as she turned to see the woman had disappeared. Fear tugged at her chest as Freya quickly raised her rifle, swinging it from entrance to entrance and around the courtyard as she looked for the woman that was once behind her. "Lisette? Lisette!"

"Quiet!" A voice hissed from above her, Freya's body snapping to look up as the woman glared down at her from where she was clinging to the side of the building. Relief washed over her as the tight knot that had formed in Freya's chest dissolved, watching as the Huntress leaped from her perch and seemed to twist and kick off the air to enter through the slight man sized opening that stood a midst the barricades on the second floor balcony. Freya waited several moments in the chill, the icy snow beneath her feet crunching softly before Lisette's figure returned, motioning her to follow with some impatience. Freya nodded, taking a breath as she looked around for her boost like Theodore had taught her. The snow crunched under her feet as she took a running start towards a roadblock sized barricade standing atop the short stairs leading up to the building, using it as a platform as she leaped up into the air. The feeling of gliding took over her body as she felt the heat surround her and push away the cold, rising her slightly in an arc towards the opening. She impacted against railing with a thud, the stone not exactly feeling good after being shoved into her stomach as her arms hooked around it before she was pulled over the railing roughly by Lisette.

"That was pathetic..." The woman commented, a small glare from green eyes her reply as Freya gave a small groan after standing up while holding her stomach. Lisette pinched the bridge of her nose as she turned away, giving a soft sigh as Solomon appeared to hack the keypad and open the door and vanishing inside.

"She's right you know, you should have put more power behind the jump." Freya swatted Ghost aside as she picked up her scout rifle from where it was thrown on her ascent and subsequent clinging for dear life to the railing moments, following the woman inside with a small muttered insult. "I was only giving advice."

The building itself was quiet, a generous layer of dust and spots of water damage graced the walls and displays of forgotten artwork as Freya walked along the second floor. Light from Solomon flickered in the dark, drawing her towards the more recent additions to the gallery. Permanent residents. Lisette stood near the corpses revealed by Solomon's light as Freya stood by an old portable computer station like the ones Theodore had shown her that Guardians used. The room itself had been re-purposed, displays moved aside as cots and other amenities for use as a base were scattered across the room.

"Sometimes I wonder, who these people were." Freya's eyes found Lisette again as the Awoken woman slowly made her way about the room, going from corpse to corpse. "Were they my friends, allies? Was I just some rouge they had picked up and were transporting? Maybe one was my lover..."

Her words seemed hollow, quiet as she seemed to speak. Freya followed her movements with her eyes, watching as the woman bent down next to one to stare into a lifeless face. "You were found...here?"

"I woke up here under Solomon's gaze, not knowing who I was, or why I was."

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Why indeed?" Lisette's eyes glanced up at Freya, piercing the darkness with their ethereal glow as she stood fluidly, making her way to Freya. " This place is where I come to be lost again, to die. Here among these long forgotten people, I don't have to give an answer to my existence, weather it is real or not. Do you understand?"

Freya found her face in the woman's hand, slender fingers holding her firmly as she was forced to look into the woman's eyes. "This is my tomb, and my cradle. It is all I ever knew, nothing else. To even know one shred, one insignificant amount of myself no matter how imagined..."

"I.."

"No, you didn't." The hand vanished, the figure it belonged to standing once again in the center of the room facing the dead as though she never left the spot. Tense moments passed, silent save for the soft clicking of their ghost's shells before words once again filled the void however brief. "There is a room like this in the gallery down the hall, without bodies. We leave in the morning."

Freya gave a slight nod, a gloved hand rubbing over the skin where she had been held, her footsteps being the only sound of her departure in the silent building. The cot was hard, the old foam padding seeming to have been made of stone as Freya lay herself down. The cold air around her seemed to seep past her layers of clothing, chilling her as she stared up at the ceiling of the old building. Nothing made sense to her now, as she lay lost in her thoughts listening to the old stone building seem to echo every sound it had back to her. The skittering of an insect, the sound of the wind blowing upon a window somewhere within the building, the rustle of fabric as a body shifted next to her. Freya rolled to her side as the cloak like scarf was unceremoniously draped over her upper body and neck, arms pulling her close to rest her head against a chest. Her arms clung to the fabric before her as a hand slipped behind her head to gently stroke it.

"Why?"

"Because you won't sleep otherwise." The voice responded, all trace of malice it once bore gone. Freya closed her eyes, leaning into the touch as warm tears slid down her face.

"I'm sorry..."

"Go to sleep." Darkness closed over her eyes, a small touch of pressure upon her forehead the signal for sleep to consume her.

* * *

It was the inhuman screech that echoed in her mind that brought Freya from her slumber then, as though a million souls were lashing out in agony across the landscape to force her from her peace. The swift sounds of footsteps leaving the room was all she heard then as Ghost blinded her with his light.

"Get up, we have to go." Freya forced her languished body to move, the cold on her face vanishing as her helmet phased onto her head.

"What's going on?" Her voice called out as with scout rifle in hand she made her way to where Lisette was looking out the slotted hole of a window barricade with her rifle scope. The woman muttered a curse as she swung the rifle left and right slightly to see down the range, Freya stepping up to the window to look out herself. The screech sounded again, ending with what sounded like a cackle as down in the distance, climbing over cars and barricades were insect like figures. They screeched and cried out in response to the cackle, one of the looking up at the window with three glowing green eyes.

"This is not good, definitely, definitely not good..." Solomon stuttered as he flew from view point to view point before crying out in alarm as a purple blast of energy arced it's way up towards the point he was at, impacting against the barricade as he quickly flew back to Lisette and vanished.

"We have to run, now!" Lisette shouted as she pulled Freya from the windows, a pair of what looked like ski mask goggles with attached face mask appearing on her face from particles of light.

"What are those things?"

"Not now!" The biting cold of the night air washed over them as they once again reached the hole in the balcony, Lisette leading the charge as she leaped gracefully from the stone, her body twisting as she threw something towards the northern barricade. Freya scrambled over the balcony, crying out as she fell, landing with a stumble as her glide guided her down. A skittering chatter, followed by an explosion and screech pushed her on as the Swarm Grenade's floating mines sought out their targets, impacting against chitin before exploding. "Move!"

Gunshots from a high caliber rifle echoed in the night as Freya ran after Lisette as the woman backpedaled, taking a few moments to fire every so often before turning away and sprinting towards a small side street. Freya looked back at the screeching mass behind her, the lion statue vanishing under the flow as it watched them leave, Guardian down. Her H.U.D. flashed before her face, a small way-mark flashing before her as Lisette gained a green outline around her figure as it leaped almost effortlessly over old cars and barricades. Freya's legs were already burning as she ran, doing what she could to catch up as she felt the heat surround her from her glides.

Heat... Fire... Solar Fire.

She wobbled slightly as her glide ended atop an old bus that was toppled on it's side, her body turning as the Solar Grenade rolled from her hand, followed by another. Lisette felt the heat flare up behind her as the grenades detonated, the inhuman screeching of the creatures following them crying out as they were consumed for attempting to follow. Her eyes widened underneath her visor as she looked back at Freya. It was as though night had turned to day, the light and size of the small suns before her were blinding, and she stood there a midst it all. Freya turned to her, and the bus she stood on exploded. Lisette felt her heart stop as she watched Freya's body sail through the air, impacting against the rusted shell of an old sedan with enough force to cause it to collapse in on itself.

The world stopped, her feet moving on their own as she turned her rifle on the creatures. One by one they fell, disintegrating into ash as the rifle echoed mutely in her ears. Four shots, click, reload, four shots again, click, a clawed hand blocked by the rifle as time began to start again. Lisette's boot kicked her assailant as she swung her rifle at another of the thralls upon her, it took her rifle with it as it fell, forcing her to draw her hand cannon and knife as the rage flowed through her freely. A shot at an acolyte in the distance, her knife being surrounded by ash as the thrall fell under it's arcing energy. Motion blurred as she lost herself to the deadly trance of the dancing blade, it didn't matter. A gunshot and another acolyte fell to ash, it didn't matter. The blue arc of electricity streaked from her knife and left a trail in the night air as it cut through another pair of screeching thralls, her life didn't matter. The hand cannon clicked on a discharged shell as the large figure with a blade of it's own bent down and charged at her as the energy dissipated from around her knife.

Her life didn't matter, if she didn't have her to give it meaning.

The concrete was hard on her back, snow clinging to her as her body rolled from the throw. Her eyes found Freya's figure embedded within the rust of the car, a hot streak falling down her face. Even now, despite what she told herself, despite everything she did to keep her out. It didn't matter. A large claw like hand crapped itself around her throat, lifting Lisette up as her body fought against the ever tightening grasp. This was it, dead because of some girl she barely knew, that she couldn't hide from. At least she wouldn't be alone anymore.

Heat.

It rolled over her like water sliding upon the shore, beating, crashing as the light came to her eyes. The large spiked head turned, it's three eyes looking towards the source of the light as it's insect like mouth clicked and shifted. Then Lisette saw it, a wing of flame, burning out into the night as she felt the heat wash over her again. It gave her strength, empowered her. Her hand reached for the backup at her hip, the old gun never seeming to work save for the moments when she called to it. The handle was warm, inviting as the Knight turned it's head to the red hot barrel before it's face.

"Go back to hell."

* * *

The grenade rolled in smoothly next to the Dreg manning the monitor, tapping the side of it's foot as it looked down and screeched. Sparks and bodies flew as gunfire filled the enclosed space of the Ketch's control room, rousing a nearby servitor from it's slumber within a nearby cradle. It's voice bellowed out mechanically as it issued orders to the Dreg and Vandals around it, turning it's eye to fire a plasma burst at the attackers before it's vision shorted out by the impact of the rocket shattering it's eye before all thought vanished into scrap.

Coral let out a whoop of joy as she quickly ducked behind cover to avoid the returned fire, petting her rocket launcher as she reloaded. "Fourteen!"

"It doesn't count twice just because it's bigger!" Klein shouted back as his pulse rifle bursts ricocheted off the consoles, several rounds impacting into a wounded Dreg as it tried to recover from the grenade's blast. "Fifteen!"

His voice was drowned out by heavy machine gun fire as the Exo Titan swept the muzzle across the room after placing a bracing hand over the barrel to push down the recoil, the heavy ammunition cut through Dreg, Vandal, and monitors alike as the room fell silent. He turned his helmet to the two and gave a small shrug. "Twenty-two."

"Damn showoff..." Klein muttered as Gregory and the other two hunters of the team jogged up from the corridor, shots firing along the way.

"I see you all cleared the way, Regent-97 fall back and assist with the exit plan if you would. I'm sure the twins would appreciate the help."

"Yes sir." Regent-97 gave a nod, turning to make his way from where Gregory came as he reloaded his heavy machine gun. Gregory himself made his way to Klein and Coral as the former stood with a small hop.

"Think you'll hold together?"

"I'll be fine, lets go gut the bastard and go home already." Gregory gave him a pat on the back as he hurdled the railing before him, pulling up the auto rifle he replaced his shotgun with and leading the hunter and warlock up to the throne room. The door hissed open to the frantic shouts of the Kell, Draksis, as he issued orders while pacing before his throne. The Kell roared out in rage as the Guardians entered his throne room, one of his hands reaching for the large shrapnel launcher he kept by the throne as his subordinates opened fire. Gunfire echoed in the small space as the trio converged on the Fallen, Klein parrying a shock dagger blade with his own as he filled the Dreg's face with the rest of his clip. Gregory slid to cover quickly, calmly letting out a burst of gunfire into a Vandal and two nearby Shanks as a rocket soared past him from the entrance to the back of the room. Draksis' vision blinked out for a moment as he activated his short range teleportation, shifting into view as the rocket impacted with his throne and sent pieces of it flying. He gave a roar of rage, shouting out to his subordinates as the shrapnel launcher in his hand boomed to life, tearing through equipment to get at his would be attackers.

"I think we pissed him off!" Coral shouted over the gunfire, chucking an arc grenade blindly behind her over the cover she and Gregory were behind. Klein himself was pinned across the room, unable to move as he traded fire with the Vandals that had taken up position behind a large display, the planet projected flickering in and out of sight as the gunfire impacted with the console. Gregory shook his head, it wouldn't do them any good to keep fighting here, they needed to back off a bit down the stairs.

"I'm going to put up a shield, you two make for the stairs, bottleneck them!" He replied over the comm system, turning to unload another volley of auto rifle fire before rolling out from cover in front of the stairs they came in. The energy sprung from his core, surrounding and expanding as he put his will and desire to protect forward, the world shifting out of focus as the space covered by the shield was displaced from the surroundings. Klein wasted no time slipping into the space, a white glow surrounding him as his shields were replenished and strengthened. He was just about to slide down the stairs when the shield flickered. Draksis was there, his foot on Gregory's chest as he aimed the shrapnel launcher down. The gunshot was diverted by a blast of void energy, Coral slamming into him with her rocket launcher forward as she knocked the Kell into the ruined computer systems.

Half of his body was still within the Guardian's shield, the other half outside as Draksis looked up, into the barrel of a rocket launcher. Coral grinned behind her helmet as her finger slid down the trigger.

"You count twice."

Gregory saw the explosion on the other side of his shield, numbly aware of Klein shouting as he slipped into his medic mode, rushing to the young girl laying against the bulkhead where she landed. Her helmet was shattered, a grin on her face as silver skin peaked up from the black char.

"Virgil, get Torrent to stabilize her, quickly!" Gregory pulled supplies from his side as Klein tore a bloody path through the remaining fallen. Gregory heard none of it as he tried to work quickly to save the young woman before him, tearing at the burned armor in front of him. "Virgil!"

"Gregory, her chest." He looked down at Coral's chest, noticing a charred and oxidized piece of metal sticking out of it. He had heard Klein joke before about how that rocket launcher, the one she dubbed the 'Unfriendly Giant', would kill her one day. He looked up at the young Awoken woman's face with a grim stare. For all his training and medical expertise, there was nothing he could do about the piece of shrapnel buried deep into her heart.


	10. Confessions of a Coffee Cup

His stomach was killing him, and an unwelcome pain in his shoulder flared up as Theodore righted himself in his ship's cockpit. The dull red of the emergency lights blinked on and off in the darkness behind the monitors before him as he rolled his shoulder to ease the pain of sleeping on it, sleep, oh yea.

"Sophie." The large screen before him flickered to life, followed by several other smaller diagnostic screens as the view of the Earth lit up the main display before him. There was a ripple in the space to his left as Sophie appeared next to him.

"Have a nice nap?"

"You're awfully chipper at the moment, what happened?" Sophie's shell shrugged as her blue eye hovered before him.

"You were up approximately seventy-one hours straight. The interesting part began with you looking over the files that I took from Rasputin, then you found something and instead of waiting rushed out to Venus, only to be punched in the stomach by Dr. Mendez. Then you sat in the ship and groaned for a while, trying in vain to keep me from taking the ship back to earth-honestly a human trying to out-hack a ghost, laughable really. Then you sat there and yelled at me for the three hour trip back, until I lowered the oxygen in the ship enough to make you pass out." Theodore rubbed at his chin, giving a slight nod at the last bit. Now he was starting to remember, he shook his finger at Sophie chidingly.

"You know that can cause brain damage."

"I don't think I'll notice a difference." He gave a groan as he rested back against the seat, looking over the monitors. The Earth was currently on the dark side on the main monitor, the Traveler lit up as a beacon within the darkness as it sat over the last safe city of mankind.

"What time is it?"

"Currently it is twenty-three forty-two Tower Standard." That wasn't too bad, at least he wasn't thrown too far off his desired time frame. "Two days after you returned from Venus."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Sophie gave him the same blank stare that most ghosts would give their guardians at this point, the gears ticking in Theodore's head started gaining speed. His mouth opened, then shut, opened again before his hand was over his face and a groan came from his throat. His free hand pushed Sophie out of the way as he pulled up the flight systems to start the landing approach to the tower.

"We'll speak about this later young lady." Theodore muttered as the ship lurched into motion, the effect of the Earth's gravity becoming more apparent as it entered the atmosphere and dropped through a cloud. Thunder rumbled over the hull of the ship as the monitor before him was soon covered by rainwater, casting the image of the tower in a rippled light as the guidance system from the tower took control and pulled the ship into the hanger bay. The air was cool and damp as he materialized on the hanger deck, his feet taking him to the lift swiftly as a group of Titans passed him by towards a larger transport that was cycling it's engines. He turned to face the hanger as the lift doors hissed shut before him, drowning out the wind.

"Any idea why the Titans are going out in force?"

"Checking..." Sophie expanded her shell briefly before it clicked shut around her core, her blue eye looking to Theodore. "A settlement outside Old Chicago recently came under attack by the Hive apparently."

"The Hive? I thought that matter was dealt with, we blew that seeder ship back to the moon." Theodore said in disbelief, the soft hum of the lift coming to a stop as the doors opened to a common area. At least it was, as there seemed to be an unusually large amount of people milling about that weren't Guardians. Theodore stepped onto the floor cautiously as a pair of medical personnel migrated into the lift past him, one guiding an elderly woman who eyed Theodore with one glassy eye, the other hidden under bandages.

"Apparently that wasn't the only ship thy sent..." Sophie replied in monotone as Theodore took in the sight before him. The level wasn't very large, usually bustling with activity as a common area for lifts and the small centralized bar station that would greet Guardians coming home or provide them a place to gather and plan for small trips outside the city. Now however, civilians took up most of the space. Theodore counted at least ten families, some with small children huddled close together or standing before the large glass panes that beheld a view of the Traveler. The only thing that disturbed him about it was that they were silent, the whole floor was save for a soft murmur of conversation between a few men and guardians near the center bar. Refugees, evacuated from their homes while the Guardians fought. It stirred memories that Theodore didn't wish to remember, of a time when similar refugees were being guided onto ships to escape Mars. Memories of faces he loved, evaporating into fire. Theodore's face set in an emotionless mask as he made his way back into the lift as it arrived, forcing his mind into routine to temper his emotions as he pushed the faces of his wife and daughter to the back of his mind. He had something to do, a mystery to solve and he wasn't going to give up just yet.

"Theodore?"

"I'm fine Sophie, mind looking up where Doc and Freya are?"

"Did you want to talk to me about something?" Theodore shook his head, looking to his side to give Sophie an agitated reply only to find Freya standing there next to him. She was sporting a small bandage on the side of her forehead and held a plastic delivery bag in her hands, her green eyes looking at him with curiosity. He gave an exasperated huff of a groan as he scratched the back of his head.

"Damnit girl, how is it you can vanish one second when I needed to talk to you and appear from nowhere the next?" She gave him a small shrug in response, turning her head back to the lift doors.

"Maybe I was just busy with other things."

"What other things? And what happened to you, get on the wrong side of your roommate again?"

"No."

"What then?"

"I'll tell you later." The lift came to a stop and opened up to the medical level, Freya beginning to step off when Theodore's arm blocked her path.

"What happened?" His voice was low as the medical staff rushed about the floor, some more hectic than others as another lift opened next to them and a badly injured Hunter was wheeled out into the area and towards I.C.U. Freya gave a small sigh and looked up to him.

"I snapped my neck two days ago, then this happened." The shocked expression gave her enough time to push under his arm, slipping by him and disappearing from sight into the rush of doctors and nurses. Theodore found himself pulled aside from the lift shortly after, granting another medic team with gurney to enter the lift.

"Was wondering when you would show back up, how's the gut?" Doc looked only slightly shorter out of armor as he stood next to Theodore in medical scrubs, wiping his face with a small hand towel. His face was weary, matching his body as Theodore shook his head.

"Fine, what the hell happened?" Gregory shook his head, watching Theodore wince slightly as he gave a slight tap with his knuckles to the man's stomach before walking off.

"C'mon, I'll tell you after I sit down. Things finally slowed down enough that I can take a break."

* * *

Gregory raised the Styrofoam cup to his lips, taking in a large mouthful of the lukewarm coffee as he sidestepped a nurse and made his way to the small lounge area were Theodore was sitting. He gave a tired sigh as he sat next to him on the small corner couch, resting his arms on his knees and looked to the Warlock that was impatiently tapping his foot. "Take it you've seen your student?"

"Barely, had all of two words with her." Theodore rubbed at his unshaven face, leaning back as he rubbed at his neck. "Did she really..."

"Mmhmn. Came in yesterday morning with one hell of a bump at her neck, turned out it was a vertebrae off center. I managed to fix it up once I had a chance, that wasn't a problem. When I asked her how she managed to be alive, she didn't know. Said something about her powers and other Warlock secrets I assume you need to chat with her about." He paused and took another mouthful of the lukewarm coffee, imagining it to be warm as he continued. "Apparently she was thrown from an exploding bus and into an old rusted out car, if you can believe it."

"Is that all?" Gregory gave a small shrug.

"To be fair, her partner came in much worse."

"What partner?" Gregory took another sip as Theodore's leg tapped in irritation. "Well?"

"I'm getting there old man." The two men stared long and hard before Gregory shook his head and leant back on the small couch. "It was her room mate, woman came in with half her ribcage caved in. It was hard enough keeping her breathing with the punctured lung and her neck in the shape it was in, she's lucky to be alive. Damn stubborn woman."

"Her room mate?" Gregory gave a nod as he finished off the small Styrofoam cup and shut his eyes for a moment. "The Awoken?"

"That's the one, apparently Miss Sinclair is calling her Lisette now." The rapid tapping of the leg stopped as Theodore's head snapped up in attention. "Thought that might catch your attention. Before I left for Venus she came and dragged me to their room, said that Miss Sinclair was having panic attacks and putting on light-shows. I didn't manage to see one of them, but Miss Sinclair was another matter. Apparently she seemed to be experiencing the 'Reborn Amnesia', not able to remember her past and having doubts. So I told her room mate to keep an eye on her."

"Having her be thrown from an exploding bus is keeping an eye on her?" Theodore shook his head as Gregory bent down again, the leg starting back up.

"Couldn't be helped apparently, I assume you heard the recent news?" A slow nod. " If it wasn't for Miss Sinclair and her, we wouldn't have heard of it. Apparently there are Hive Seeders out in old Chicago at the old Millennium Park-yes you heard me, there's three of them apparently- we wouldn't have been able to evacuate the nearby settlement without their advanced warning."

"This has been going on for two days?" Gregory gave a tired nod yes.

"I've been here patching up everything from lacerations to shrapnel to bones crushed damn near to powder, had to put back in a hunter's guts last night. Vanguard are calling it a catastrophe, called in everyone they could to get the damn things out. Problem is we don't know how long they were sitting, how deep we have to burn..." Theodore shook his head, placing his head in his hands. For this to happen now, it felt as though some dark cosmic god was laughing at their expense. "At least they haven't been past the Fire Line, we probably wouldn't have gotten the settlement evacuated if not for it."

"The 'Fire Line?' Don't tell me the Titans set up a gauntlet so soon."

"They didn't, the name means exactly what it says. Across old Chicago, separating the city down the middle and cutting it off from the Great Lake Plains is a literal wall of fire, burns the hive if they try to cross through it." Gregory leant in close a small smirk in his eyes as he gave a nod. "But not us."

Theodore was a loss for words for a moment until the thought clicked into place: "Freya." Gregory gave a nod of affirmation, it was unbelievable. It literally couldn't be done, no Warlock had that kind of power... Unless it was being channeled from another source. A firm hand grasped Theodore's arm as he attempted to stand to find Freya, stopping him from rushing off with his questions and theory. "I have to talk to her."

"Let the girl recover, you don't know what she probably went though. We can focus on how it's connected later, of which I still want to look over some of those files again."

"There may not be time."

"You may be right on it in some part." Theodore pulled his arm away, sitting at the edge of the couch as Gregory turned the Styrofoam cup sideways and drew into it with his nail. "The Hive seeders are over here, clustered around Millennium Park. Fire Line is here, and the Titans have set up an outpost and main systems command at the edge of the city and in the civilian settlement respectively. The Fire Line is only a little over five-thousand kilometers, cutting the city straight in half, after that it ends."

"The Hive could go around, but it wouldn't matter with that distance. It would waste too much time."

"Exactly, Titan command seems to think they will try to burrow under. Granted this is if they wanted to come after us there, the line isn't exactly surrounding them. As to Miss Sinclair, she has already been debriefed on the matter. As far as she or any other Warlock is concerned, there's nothing they can do to extend or drop the line. And due to her emotional state both Ikora and myself as her doctor have taken her off the active list, you on the other hand need to go see the Vanguard as soon as possible."

"Don't tell me you ratted me out so soon?" Gregory shook his head and ran a hand over his short curled hair.

"Not yet, but after Ikora aims that shotgun of hers at you for your disappearing act, you may just spill the beans yourself." Theodore paled as he put an arm over his stomach.

"Think my stomach's actin up..." Gregory shook his head, looking up as a nurse jogged up to them out of breath.

"Doctor Mendez, we have an emergency." Gregory gave Theodore a pat on the back as he stood, tossing his cup to the man as he followed the nurse and slipped back into the role of a Doctor. Theodore watched him go, rolling the cup in his hand as he looked down at the simple drawing etched into the foam. The Fire Line, on one side are the protectors of the light, and on the other lay the darkness that wants to consume it. He ran a hand over his unshaven face, scratching at the two day growth. Things were certainly spiraling out of control in a small amount of time, makes it so a man can't even have a nice safe mystery to keep himself occupied nowadays. Theodore gave a drawn out groan, shutting his eyes as the image of a burning ship flashed in his memory. The Styrofoam crushed in his hand as he stood, one home was lost already to darkness, he wouldn't let another fall again if he could do something about it.

"Sophie, let the Vanguard know I'm coming, and contact the other Warlocks with Sun-Singer training. I feel like burning some ants today."

* * *

_She was running, pulling along someone down the corridor as alarms blared out around her. An explosion shook the station they were in as large airlock doors hissed open in front of her, allowing her and her charge into the hanger. The images changed to inside a ship, her aged hands buckling in a young woman as the engine started up._

_"Get those doors open, we need to leave!"_

_"Yes Ma'am." A monotone voice responded to hers as her pale hand cupped the cheek of her charge._

_"We'll be fine, don't worry." Her voice was quiet and calm despite her fear, her lips pressing to the crown of her charge's forehead before her vision shifted to sitting in the chair opposite as the ship moved out into space. A flash, and her memory became filled with emergency lights and warning sirens. Then she was floating, hand outstretched as she watched with darkening vision green eyes and a pale hand reaching out to hers as her charge fell towards the Earth. The last she saw was the brief spot of flame upon blue as her pale hand seemed to ice over and the vacuum of space take the last of her air._

_"Wake up." A rush of warmth slid over her, flashes of fire and a gentle touch as a slightly frantic pitched monotone like voice echoed around her. "Oh come on, you have to get up! This should be working, why isn't it working?"_

_Another pulse of warmth and her eyes fluttered open to the darkness of a room, a small light fluttering about beside her. She turned her head as it grew in size, forming a blue orb as it pulsed again and warmth washed over her._

_"This isn't right, wake up! You need to wake up already, please Fredrick!" The small light hovered over the body of an older man, his eyes closed in peaceful slumber as his hand covered a bloody wound. The little light in front of her pulsed again, and she raised a silvery hand to her forehead as she let out a small groan. The light spun, a blue eye looking to her then back to the man. "No no no, this isn't right. Why did she move and not you Fredrick? I'm supposed to be your ghost, aren't I? You need to wake up!"_

_Pain rippled across her stomach and chest as the little red and black Ghost cried out again, a fiery heat buffeting her as the room around her burst into flames surrounding a figure that looked to her with piercing green eyes. " Wake up!_ "

* * *

Lisette jerked awake, pain rippling across her chest and stomach as she tried to sit up. White-grey walls and the beeping of instruments around her met her senses as she looked around the room. Her breath came heavy, bringing a dull aching pain with each breath as she shifted her head to take inventory of her surroundings. Medical equipment, small table upon which Solomon sat, his eye dark. She grit her teeth, pushing herself up with her left arm as the door to her room slid open. Eyes met as Freya was at her bedside a moment later, pushing her down gently after placing the bag she held next to Solomon who activated with a start.

"Who what now?"

"I told you to watch her, lay back down you shouldn't be moving yet." Lisette growled lowly, pushing back with the force of a weak kitten as she tried to sit up again.

"I refuse to be babied, I'm fine."

"Five broken ribs I'm sure say otherwise." She looked up to Freya to give a retort, the threat dying on her lips at the look in the younger woman's eyes. She let out a small huff, looking to the side where Solomon was hovering instead.

"At least let me sit up..." Freya hesitated before she gave a small nod, the bed slowly rising up into a reclining position as the younger woman adjusted the pillow behind her head. Lisette looked up as Freya busied herself with making sure that she didn't pull anything out and that she was comfortable, the young woman was satisfied a moment later and removed her coat to place on the chair next to the bed when Lisette noticed the bandages peeking out of the high necked shirt Freya wore. "What are those?"

"Huh? Nothing, just a scratch." Freya responded, touching the bandage at her temple. Lisette shook her head, wincing slightly at the pain that came with it as her hand met similar bandages there. She settled for a glare instead.

"I meant the other ones." Her hand remained on her neck in gesture before dropping to her lap as Freya shifted slightly. Lisette frowned in annoyance, about to open her mouth when Freya spoke in a quiet voice.

"Do you remember what happened?" Lisette bit her tongue as she paused, looking at Freya while she thought back. The old city, the gallery, flames. And Hive.

"The Hive, attacked us." She said slowly as Freya gave a small nod, the image of the bus exploding came to the front of her mind then. "The bus, you...How did you survive? How did we...?"

"I didn't... at least, that's what the doctors say that should have happened." The medical bed shifted slightly as Freya sat on it looking away from Lisette as she touched her neck. "Apparently I broke my neck when I was thrown into that car, I just remember seeing the explosion then black. Then I was floating and... a voice told me to get up."

"A voice?" Freya gave a small nod, her eyes distant.

"It was warm, I think it was my mother. She called out to me and I felt warm again. Next thing I know I see you being held up by one of those things... a-and I just snapped. That was two weeks ago." Freya shook her head slightly as her voice cracked, muttering to herself after a moment. "The city is probably still on fire right now..."

The look on Freya's face was not how she wanted to see the young girl have, Lisette thought silently as she leant back more and crossed her hands over her lap and looked to the other side of the room. Two weeks she had been laying here in the medical ward, all but dead to the world and to Freya. A smaller hand slid over her own, pulling it closer on the bed towards the young woman.

"I was scared..." This brought her gaze back to Freya, her hand soon taken up by the young woman to be pressed against a pale cheek. "Even after those things fell, after I burned them all, you just wouldn't wake up. I didn't want you to go, I just..."

"Freya..." Her voice replied tiredly as she gave a soft sigh. The thought of the young woman being so worried over someone like herself made her chest ache with an undesirable pain, it was more then she deserved in her mind. It would have been easy enough to push it down like in the past, the words already forming in her mind before dying on her lips as Freya beat her to it.

"I love you!" Lisette's eyes widened at the sudden words blurted out by the young woman, a look of shock evident across her face. Her composure recovered quickly to her credit, and she slipped the calm mask back on as she closed her eyes. Childish admiration more then likely she concluded, the warmth in her chest pushing back in response as she took a breath. Freya tried to fill the silence again with her explanation, apparently taking her sudden silence as something bad as she explained herself. "I mean it, I just didn't think about it before, you were always around and I feel safe with you, I just-"

"Be quiet already..." Lisette said softly as she slid her hand to place a finger over Freya's lips, looking up at her with a soft gaze. She was an annoying little twit of a girl, a dolt if you would that couldn't control her emotions or powers without causing some kind of light show, good or bad. But, Lisette thought, I wouldn't mind letting her be my dolt...I guess. "Let's just...Take it one day at a time then, ok? It's already frustrating enough with your emotions all over the place some days, but at least now it's out in the open..."

"You mean..?" Lisette looked away slightly, her cheeks darkening slightly. This wasn't exactly how she wanted it to be honest, she would blame it on her injuries when pressed. But for right this moment, Lisette's mind wasn't fully in control of her emotions.

"Yes, I care for you too. Just, don't be so obvious to other people right now." Warm hands covered her own, followed by a press of the lips to her knuckles as Lisette glanced back to see Freya smiling at her. This girl, one day she doesn't want to talk at all, the next she is blurting out random shit. Lisette gave another small huff as she looked back to the spot on the wall across from the door, such a strange girl. Her voice found itself again as she shut her eyes in annoyance over the sudden closeness as Freya was inching closer to her. "What's with the bag over there?"

"Oh! I forgot." The bed shifted and the warm hands vanished to Lisette's quiet annoyance, Freya sliding onto the bed again as she pulled the small take out container from the bag. "I went down to the city and go this for you, Iris and Clyde say hi by the way."

Lisette found the small box soon on her lap, a small scribble of a heart and the words 'Get Well Soon! Love, Iris/Clyde' as well as a small doodle probably done by Iris herself of the waitress and the owner on the top of the cardboard. She lifted the lid carefully, her eyes widening at the sight of a small plastic bowl of pudding sitting inside with a plastic spoon. Her cheeks felt hot again as she gave a small glare to Freya, the young woman smiling back brightly.

"The nurses said it was alright, since it technically isn't solid food." Blue eyes glanced over to the small table where the other bag sat, the box shape evident as it must have been another pudding from the past visit. How many times did she bring a pudding waiting for her to wake up these past two weeks, Lisette wondered as her eyes found Freya's again. Slender silver fingers picked up the plastic spoon and popped the lid on the small plastic cup.

"If someone walks in, I won't talk to you for a week..." She said with a quiet voice, the threat real but the bite behind it lost as the plastic spoon dipped into the pale confection, passing by her lips moments later.


	11. Who Am I?

Theodore scribbled on the notepad in his hand as he sat on the roof of an old rusted out sedan, his feet resting on the edge of the hood and the dash were the glass once was. The end of the pen reaches up to scratch an itch behind his ear as a series of screeches cry out in-front of him. Brown eyes lazily glance up as roughly five to seven thralls rush at him and into the wall of fire he was sitting near, seeming to piggy back on one another as they quickly burned alive before the last one launched itself from it's ally's shoulders and landed on the sedan's hood in front of him. Casually, like snuffing out a cigarette, Theodore planted his boot on the smoking skull of the thrall and watched the body disintegrate to ash. He flipped to the back pages of his notepad and made a mark before returning to his previous location in the notepad, embellishing more on the design sketched upon it. That made seventeen attempts today, seems the Hive really want that strange orb back.

"You really shouldn't antagonize them like that." Sophie deadpanned as her shell spun slightly in small bursts of movement within the data field as she floated to Theodore's left, her blue eye turning within the field to look at him. "What if they decide to send eight next time?"

Theodore shrugged in response, glancing down at the green glowing pebble resting in the groove of the window track. It stared back at him with a burning cat-like iris before he retuned his attention to his scribbling. It had been roughly two weeks since the Hive Seeders apparently landed and the 'Fire Line' was put up, during that time Theodore and several other warlocks had spent their time studying, raiding, and in Theodore's case, being a pain in the ass to anyone or anything he could. Currently he was watching over an artifact he found inside one of the ships before they blew it to hell, one point for the good guys. Theodore scratched at the two week beard he had started growing, it was itching like hell but he hadn't found the time to take it off. Another screech as several more thralls rushed the fire wall, attempting the same as their brethren had done. Up until the lead thrall's leg crumbled to ash, causing the one behind it to jump too early and land face first into the fire before disintegrating. Theodore flipped to the back and made another mark, eighteen.

"Think they had eight that time." Sophie gave a small noise of annoyance as she continued to work, a beeping going off in Theodore's ear. He tapped on the small comm receiver. "Maxwell's house of ash, you send them we burn 'em."

"Cute, how many tried to come for it today?" Ikora's voice deadpanned over the comm link, the sound of background chatter filtering in behind her. Theodore tapped the pen against the pad, deciding to add spikes to his creation.

"Eighteen groups so far, batches of six to eight. This thing doesn't seem so important if they only send thralls though."

"Morn seems to think it's important, a link to Crota's soul if I understood what she was rambling about." Theodore's pen stopped moving, sticking his tongue in his teeth in thought as he looked out into the fire.

"Crota's dead." He said after a few moments.

"This is the Hive Theodore, we can't be certain that they aren't trying to bring him back." There was a pause as he listened to her speak at a distance to someone before coming back on the line. "I'm sending a squad out to the Moon to check on it."

"Crota's dead Ikora, and his blade is shattered. They won't find much but a whole load of Hive up there who will be none to happy to see them."

"I'll tell them to pack a few extra grenades then." He scoffed and shook his head. "Figure out anything else about what we talked about?"

"Kind of, I think it's possible to contain a sample, but we would need-" A screech sounded off in front of him, followed by a roar as a Knight charged along with the Thralls, standing in the way as a shield as the fire seemed to wrap around it. Theodore watched as the Knight seemed to be fighting a current within the flames, his once bounding steps coming to a staggered step as he neared the middle. The knight reached back to the thrall in the middle of the others, grabbing it roughly by the throat as it flung the screeching abomination towards Theodore before it's arm crumbled off followed by the rest of it's body into ash. The thrall landed on the hood of the car, crawling up farther than the last as it reached out a claw to the orb. The orb seemed to glow in triumph as the thrall's smoking hand covered it, before it screeched out in pain as Theodore planted his boot on it. He watched with a bored expression as it struggled slightly before it's smoking arm seemed to rip off and it finished disintegrating. The orb dimmed as if sulking as he flipped to the back of his note pad, nineteen. "We would need Freya to help channel it."

"I see, makes sense. How many this time?"

"Nine, plus a Knight. They actually managed to touch it this time." Ikora gave an annoyed noise over the line as Theodore went back to his sketch.

"Just bring the lights-damned thing back already Maxwell..." The line clicked off and he gave a small snort of laughter, that woman has completely forgotten the way to have a good time lately. He heard Sophie's shell click shut, giving her a glance as he held up his pad.

"What do you think?"

"Loose the spikes."

"What? That's the best part!" Sophie's eye gave him a look and he gave a shrug, flipping the pad closed. "Everyone's a critic. How did you manage?"

"I finished decrypting the information on Dr. Sinclair about half an hour ago, I was transmitting some of the files to Virgil so that Dr. Mendez could look them over."

"What, he wasn't satisfied with the last shipment?" Theodore grabbed the orb before pushing himself onto the hood and hopping off to the asphalt, a screech sounding behind him as he walked away from the wall followed by a whoosh of flame and a batch of ash dusting his back. He groaned slightly and smacked at the back of his coat. "Man, I like this coat."

"He apparently wanted to show it to that woman." Theodore paused mid step, looking to Sophie.

"Why?"

"He seems to think she's the woman in the picture, some of the journals support this Theodore."

"The woman's an Awoken, the Doctor is a Human." Sophie bobbed along with this as another screech sounded behind the wall.

"And all Awoken were once Human." Theodore sighed, biting his tongue as he thought it over. It could make sense, her body may have been transformed since then. Trauma of death and resurrection can cause one to loose their memories, still didn't explain Freya. How did Freya fit into the puzzle of a scientist that mainly built and maintained the Exo race? He would have to look over the files when he had a moment alone that wasn't consumed by his duties, a moment that seemed to not come easily it seems as he reached behind him. A gunshot echoed around him as his hand cannon kicked hard from being fired with one hand, the thrall being kicked back from him and shattering into dust as it hit the ground. Twenty.

"Alright let's drop off the rock and see if we can slip away so you can show me what you found."

"One mystery after another isn't it?" A sparrow materialized by Theodore as he swung a leg over, pocketing the fist sized orb.

"Another day in the life of a Warlock." The sparrow leapt to life as he manipulated the throttle, weaving his way through the old streets, almost impacting with the side of a pile of debris as Sophie's voice echoed in his ear from the comm piece.

"Then finding out about a lost orbital platform with an experimental Warmind on it shouldn't phase you, right?"

* * *

_"Do you know who you are? Where you are?" The voice asked her calmly, a shake of the head no had the figure in front of her giving a sad look as she watched the only part of their body frown. "I see, that's a shame."_

_"She's useless then, no need to waste time on the dead." A gruff woman's voice replied back from behind her. Dead, useless, a ghost amongst the living. That's all she was to them, all that she could remember besides…_

The automatic blinds slid open with a soft whirr, shining light into Lisette's closed eyes and making her groan in annoyance. She tried to roll away from it, a dull ache rippling across her chest as her hand shifted over it and brushed against the body next to her. Her senses kicked back in slowly under the fog of medication as her eyes opened to Freya's sleeping face next to her. The younger woman had been keeping an eye on her the past few days since she awoke, aiding her into some semblance of normalcy again as her body healed quickly. Still, bone was never one to be rushed even in this day of nano-machines born of the Traveler's knowledge that seemed to be able to heal anything like magic. Bone was stubborn, much like herself.

Freya shifted slightly, her lips parting further in sleep as Lisette ran the tips of her fingers along the sleeping woman's brow, pushing aside the black hair covering her face. Freya's features were not unlike her own, despite the difference in height and a few other variables, it was an interesting comparison to make. A frown, why would such a comparison be necessary? Two completely different women, in every way even down to the genetic level. The light caught against her silver skin, for a split second to Lisette's eyes it wasn't so pale, so foreign. She stared at her hand as it rested upon Freya's chest, watching it rise up and down ever so slightly. The soft hiss of the door went un-noticed.

"I see at least one of you is awake." Gregory winced in sympathy as the awoken woman pushed Freya off the bed roughly, the woman landing with a thump and a moan at her rude awakening. He could already see that today was off to a good start, in a manner of speaking. He gave Lisette a pointed look as she pushed herself up and glared at him. "I would prefer not to have to re-admit Miss Sinclair if you don't mind."

"How long until I can leave?" He held out a hand to Freya who took it graciously, the younger woman seeming to bounce back without more than a bump on the head more then likely.

"Go ask the nurse for an ice pack while I look over your friend here, shouldn't take too long."

"Yea ok.." Freya looked to Lisette with a small touch of hurt, Lisette looking down to her sheets as the door hissed closed behind Freya. There was the scratch of pen on paper as Gregory scribbled something on it before a pen light was clicked on.

"Eyes on the light please." Lisette obeyed as he moved the light around. "I'm fairly certain you didn't need to push her off the bed like that, even if you were simply embarrassed."

"I would rather not talk about this." The pen light clicked off and was put away, his hand moving to take her pulse as he looked up to the clock above her bed.

"And I would prefer you to not give me another patient to worry about, it's just finally managed to slow down around here. How's the chest?" He released her wrist after a few moments, scribbling down the results on the pad in his hands.

"Still a little tight. Shouldn't a nurse be doing this?" Gregory gave a shrug, motioning her to lay back, a movement she did stiffly and slowly as he set the pad down to check her chest and stomach.

"Nothing wrong with your healing so far, seems to be coming along nicely. How's walking been?"

"Stiff." He gave a nod as he finished, making a note down to have the bandages changed out since they had become looser. "So what do you really want?"

Gregory made a few notes as Lisette pushed herself up stiffly again, his face unreadable as he checked off things and tapped the send button so it was delivered to the nurse's station. The medical sheet on the pad vanished and he stared down at his worn reflection as the pad reverted to it's black home screen. The closest thing to a mirror he had been around and even now he didn't like what he saw, still it was just the least of his worries.

"Virgil did you get that information from Sophie?" The little red ghost phased into view, his eye staring out at Gregory as he produced another pad from his storage systems. Lisette narrowed her eyes as she watched him set the medical pad down and start flipping through the new one, the pad itself soon ending up in front of her with a picture of a woman on it. "Look familiar?"

The kind face of the woman stared back up at Lisette, aged but still fairly youthful, her features resembling Freya closely. Lisette frowned looking up to Gregory with a small glare. "Is this supposed to mean anything?"

"Her name is Lisette F. Sinclair, born thirty-five years before the Traveler was ever found on Mars. Interesting how she shares similar features to our own Miss Sinclair doesn't it?" Lisette shook her head slightly, why was he telling her all of this?

"So it's her mother then? I don't see the point in this." Her fingers slipped around the pad's surface, the image vanishing from the screen only to be replaced with other files. She tapped on one as Gregory watched, her eyes scanning over the journals and notes rapidly. Images of Exos, schematics, notes on behavioral analysis of the copying process. Gregory had to admit that Sophie was thorough in decrypting the information, having doubled the amount he had previously seen on Venus as she aided Theodore out in Old Chicago. But it was one file in particular that had caught his eye and proceeded to prompt his decision to show it to Lisette, a file he was certain she was staring at right now if her finger hovering over the pad was any indication.

Lisette's eyes were narrowed as she read the journal entry before her: _"It took a fair amount of time and trial, but with thanks to the Traveler it seems that the impossible became reality. While purely a selfish desire, everything seemed to simply fall into place with it's guidance. The sample, Ova taken from my seemingly barren womb, actually came alive and began the process of creation. While it required a nanite solution to thrive in, I could scarcely believe my eyes as I watched the fetus take shape..._

_-Day 38 of observation, I watch my child grow before me. The nanite solution created with the Traveler's knowledge has seemed to accelerate the growth process by at least double the amount of time... Scans of the chamber seem to indicate an almost crystalline structure developing within where the bones should be, is this because of the Traveler? The sex of my child is becoming apparent, it's a..._

_-The Allied Defense Force came to my lab to complain today, apparently the Over-watch Sentries' algorithms are going haywire. It seems the neural network is beginning to become self aware in a manner not unlike how the War Minds are progressing here in the orbital station on Phobos. If the facilities on Mars weren't so integrated with the main network I'm sure they may be able to fix the minor issues, still this is an interesting development. I'll have to re calibrate the neural interface to allow for simple corrections, or at the very least make it so that they can still retain their new independence while allowing for the Asimov to remain in the background. I haven't noticed anything coming from Pythia in the way that General Higgs mentioned was happening in the Sentries, still it wouldn't hurt to take a peek and find out. I'll get Simon to prepare the countermeasures while I set up the probe and have a word with Pythia. It's nearing the end of five months now, and I still don't have a name for..."_

The door hissed open as Lisette looked up to Freya, the pad vanishing from her hands as Gregory slipped it behind the medical pad. "You should be all set to go then, I've made sure you're off the active roster for a month at least. I recommend light exorcise, simple stretches and light walking with support. If I hear about you re-fracturing those ribs again so soon after I fixed them, well, I won't be happy that's for sure. Take it slow for a while and relax, Miss Lisette, Miss Sinclair."

Blue eyes narrowed, meeting his own for a brief moment before he gave a nod to the two women, the door hissing closed behind him. There had been more to the entries she was skimming through aside from the file attachments of the child growing in the large machine, as if the more she was reading the more Lisette felt like she already knew what was coming next. A soft touch as Freya's hand slipped into her own, green eyes looking down with a bit of curiosity.

" Everything alright?"

"Fine." She responded with a small huff, giving a glare to the younger woman. It softened after a moment as she looked away. "Let's just get out of here, I hate hospitals."

Freya gave a nod, calling out for her Ghost as it materialized beside her. Why did that fool of a Doctor show me that? Lisette narrowed her eyes slightly, her hands balling into fists. Another hand squeezed back in her left, causing her to let out a short breath of air. The mutter was rushed slightly, catching Freya by surprise as she looked down at Lisette.

"Huh?"

"I said I'm sorry...for pushing you off." A small smile tugged at Freya's mouth, well at least she apologized so that's something. Freya slid onto the medical bed, her arm wrapping around Lisette's back as she nuzzled at her neck.

"It's alright, I forgive you for being cranky in the morning. Ready to get dressed?" Lisette nodded stiffly, letting the younger woman help her out of the hospital gown and into the cloths brought by her ghost. The light touches and shy looks Freya gave her would be considered adorable, especially a few days ago before she had the information the thrice-damned Titan showed her circulating in her mind. It certainly didn't help her mood when she took a final look in the small mirror of the equally small bathroom inside the medical level's room after splashing her face with water, only to find that woman staring back at her.

* * *

The tram was full of idle conversation, it helped to distract Lisette's mind as she hid the lower portion of her face beneath her cloak's scarf. It was the first few moments alone she had received since being discharged from the medical levels, and aside from a little stiffness in her muscles, deemed herself well enough to take a walk. Alone.

Her feet shifted automatically as the tram came to a slow stop at the terminal inside the city, her movements only paused to allow others to pass her first before the slight heel of her boot met the concrete outside and she vanished into the crowd. It was different in the city, that much was certain. If she dressed with as little gear as she could and kept to herself, she almost passed as a normal person. Her reflection caught in the half tinted windows of a store, as normal as an Awoken could be that is. An alley led to a small street, the bustle of the crowds dying out and the causeways becoming more littered as she neared the small diner that her feet seemed to take her to on instinct. A pause.

No, it wouldn't do. Freya knows this place after all, her feet taking her quickly back through the ally and down another side street towards another place where she felt secure. Secure? It had been too long since she had to feel on the run from people trying to find her, not since word had spread amongst the Awoken community on the Tower of her lost memory. It had taken a fair amount of violence and several words from the Speaker before her hand wasn't bloody anymore from having to hurt people, her weapons pointed in the direction of the enemy. She kept a set of knives close though, just in case. It was really the life she knew since waking up in that cold room, next to the Guardian that Solomon was supposed to revive. She paused under a flickering street lamp, the sidewalk still fully illuminated as she looked up to the Traveler.

 _'What sick and twisted joke did you have in mind when you brought me back?'_ Lisette asked silently as the alien being remained silent to her ears, to everyone's ears apparently. Sometimes, she wondered why it even came to Earth, why it decided to help humanity. Why it stayed. Even the Warlocks and all their secrets couldn't figure it out entirely, maybe it was just a joke…

The sound of children laughing and a ball hitting a chain link fence drew her attention, a small playground within the concrete of the city playing host to an assortment of children of different sizes and colors. They all seemed to be congregating in small groups; playing ball, climbing and hanging on some geometric jungle gym, drawing in a sandbox with a stick and talking about something that happened in their day. Glowing blue eyes soon found the outcast, sitting on a swing at the far end away from everyone. The little girl's skin was fairly pale, but not silver like Lisette's own, but her hair was stark white. White hair wasn't uncommon among Awoken, but these were human children around the girl. Halfbreed. It was the only thought that made sense when amber eyes peaked out at her from behind the chain of the swing, glowing faintly.

Slowly, Lisette put her finger over a link in the fence, wiggling it in a small wave. A small pale finger wiggled back from the chain of the swing, a small smile tugging at their lips from their hidden places. A voice called out and the girl turned, soon entering the arms of her mother as she was taken away from Lisette's sight. Her heart seemed to sink to her stomach as she watched them disappear, and her mind started to drift towards the files that Dr. Mendez had shown her. Had continued to show her when she asked, away from Freya's prying eyes.

Lisette F. Sinclair, Doctorate in neuroscience and a leading researcher of artificial intelligence that was applied to the Warminds. And, if the files were indeed correct, the so called 'Mother' to the Exo race. Most of the files spoke of Exo construction, maintenance, the complex web of neural pathways in their hidden brains not unlike a human mind. In a way, it seemed to suggest they were more then simply machines. How much did the line blur back then she wondered? Do the lines even still exist anymore? The thoughts unsettled her, making her move down to the city to think. But it wasn't the end of the torment from this dead woman whose name she now shared. In the hundreds of exabytes of data pulled from whatever databank the information came from, were the damn woman's journals. Personal journals, detailing experiments and apparent communication with the Traveler.

The mere thought of it pulled at her mind, and seemed to turn her stomach. The experiments, were in an attempt to create life! Life, from the barren egg of the own doctor's body. Lisette had shut off the tablet Solomon brought her after she read through the entries, entranced, and leaving quickly to find some air. It wasn't the fact that it felt so wrong, so unethical and purely selfish. It was because, deep down, she seemed to understand. Lisette was disgusted with herself that she sympathized with some several hundred years dead scientist, that she agreed to have life in her isolation of computer A.I. and that the Traveler somehow helped to induce it. What cruel sick joke was the universe playing on her, to show her something that played on her mind like the strings of an instrument being tuned? It sounded so familiar, but it couldn't be father from the truth.

Could it…?

"Sugar? That you?" Lisette turned, the young waitress standing behind her with a size too large coat over her frame.

"Iris…"

"Fancy seeing you all the way out here. Haven't seen you in a while, how are you feeling?" Lisette shook her head slightly.

"I'm fine, what are you doing out here?" Iris gave a short chuckle and gestured up to the building they were next to.

"I live here silly, got off work a little while ago." A soft 'oh' came from the older woman's lips as Iris continued. "What about you? Seems a little out of the way from that tower of yours."

"I guess so…"

"Well, do you wanna come up? I can put on some tea, maybe have some pudding in the fridge if your interested~." Lisette bit her lip behind her scarf, glaring slightly at Iris for several seconds before barely nodding. Iris herself beamed in reply, leading Lisette up into the quiet apartment building. She would dwell on it all later, after some tea…and pudding.


	12. Programmed to Love

"Sounds like 'Puppy Love' to me." Brick said simply as he held the weight up above Freya's head as she finished her workout. Sonya and he had gotten a separate rotation in Old Chicago, much to their disappointment, Freya having to listen as the two remained separated save for sparse communications. The Titans had kept busy with eradicating the Hive ships beyond the Fire Line, making progress each passing day. But it was slow.

"Puppy love? Then how do you explain that feeling I get in my chest when she's around." His eyes blinked on and off as she set the weight back in the catch, leaning on the barbell to look down at her.

"Well, you did manage to piss her off and become her roommate within the same day. Could be fear."

"Why would she show me that stuff then?" Brick's metallic jaw remained shut as his vocal processor made a short grunt, his shoulders lifting in a shrug.

"Just because she's a loner doesn't mean she's mute. That woman has had to fight through a lot of issues since she came to the tower." His eyes blinked on and off again, "In the end I suppose she just decided to trust you since you ended up not really bothering her."

"So because I wasn't a nuisance it was fine, but now." Freya sat up, letting out a frustrated sigh. " I don't get it!"

A small towel was dropped onto her head as she sat on the bench, green eyes looking out through the folds at the rest of the gym. There were fewer guardians scattered about the floor, most either doing what they could out in the field or getting much needed rest between battles. Some were simply not coming back at all. Freya shivered slightly at the thought, remembering those glowing eyes in the night, the inhuman wails. She almost never made it back, and neither did Lisette. What was that power…The Traveler? But the voice, it was so familiar…

There was a tap at her back, she stood silently as Brick took her spot on the bench and started to use the weights. There was more weight now on the barbell, and she watched him bench the extra weight almost effortlessly.

"I didn't think you really needed to do that." The towel slipped to around her neck as Brick made small grunts with every rep.

"I don't. But it helps me think and lets me feel more a part of the group." Freya raised an eyebrow in question as he finished and placed the weight back into the catch, sitting up. "Most of the other Exo don't bother coming to the gym, theres not much of a need to build muscle when your body is mostly metal and hydraulics. Still, a part of me feels the urge to come down here and go through the motions. I guess in here, "He taps the side of his head as his eye blink on and off before looking up to Freya. "There's something that feels like if I didn't, then it would have been a waste of a day."

"Is it a part of your program?" Brick shook his head negative.

"I don't think so, then again I don't really know. Don't get me wrong, I know there is a difference between what's up there and what's in a bot's casing. But you can fix a bot, anyone can. Only the ghosts can fix an Exo." He returned to a contemplative pose, staring out ahead as his eyes shifted slightly with a small whir of the servos. He looked down to his hand a moment later, rolling his fingers. "Sometimes I can feel myself drift, and I can almost see these hands being flesh instead of plating. Sometimes I grow sad, but tears don't fall like they should. Where there should be a body is simply a casing of circuits, wires, and hydraulics. I guess what I'm getting at is that all of us in the end, just want to feel like we're human again."

"Again?" He nodded looking up at her before standing and shifting to look down.

"They may look different, but the Awoken were human once. Sometimes I think the same about some Exos, it's hard to ignore really." He placed a hand on her shoulder, the metal cool to the touch. "Give her some time, like I said, she's still used to being alone. It's also possible she is just trying to understand how to feel romance again."

"Yea, right." Freya muttered quietly, glancing away from the Exo. Now she felt stupid. It was bad enough having this amnesia that guardians get from being reborn by their ghosts apparently, but still she at least felt things, still remembered a little. Lisette on the other hand, Freya wasn't sure how much she remembered. Just because she let Freya call her that name, doesn't mean it was hers either. The possibility of her remembering a different name ran through Freya's mind, the woman groaning in annoyance. She wasn't feeling stupid, she was stupid. How could that woman ever really return affection if it was so misplaced?

"Why don't we call it for now, it's getting late and I have to get back on duty in a few hours." Brick said as he wiped down the bench with his own towel before removing some of the weights and returning them to their holding racks. Freya nodded mutely, taking her water bottle when it was offered to her and falling in step behind Brick. She stepped off at her floor, her body moving by it's own force as the doors shut on Brick's form with a small wave. Freya looked to the walls of her room as she entered, nothing was amiss save for the absence of Lisette.

The wall hanging over the Awoken woman's bed shifted to a view of the Traveler, catching Freya's eye. So, some intergalactic ball appears out of nowhere, and now she's in the future after having died once already. Would they have even met if she hadn't crashed down? Freya blinked at the thought, crashed down? A small migraine was forming behind her eyes, she didn't crash down, she just crashed cars. Why would she think that?

"Ghost, turn off the lights." No response, the lights remaining on as Freya held a hand to her head. "Ghost?"

A heartbeat passed, nothing. Freya looked about the small room for her wayward Ghost. Her desk-still relatively bare save for some small trinkets she had found on her trips with Theodore and training, or from a store in the city- was clear. Lisette's desk too was bare as she checked the bed, in the drawers under the bed, in the bathroom.

"Ghost?" Freya called out a little frantically as fear set in within her chest for some reason, her migraine growing. "Ghost!"

"Yes Freya?" Freya whipped around, the little star of light floating innocuously behind her after she nearly began to tear apart the room. He looked to her with his blue eye, shifting to look around at her side of the room. In her pain and discomfort she had all but torn the bed apart, her cloths scattered about the room. His eye shifted back to her as she panted from exertion she didn't know she was feeling, her migraine subsiding. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yea…Fine." She placed a hand to her head as Ghost's shell opened slightly in a shrug.

"So, then you're redecorating I see." Freya glared at the Ghost, picking up a loose shirt and pair of underwear that were close to her.

"Is Lisette back yet?" The cloths were set aside as she hastily stuffed back in the remainder of her clothing into the drawers, not bothering to close them correctly as Ghost hovered just outside her reach.

"Not yet, I can try contacting Solomon if you want to find out where they are." Freya shook her head.

"No, it's fine."

"You sure?" She waved him off, grabbing the set aside cloths before heading into the small bathroom to shower. Ghost watched the door hiss shut, his shell spinning slightly in thought. His blue eye turned to the wall hanging, the image of the Traveler remaining on the fabric like screen for several seconds before flashing slightly and shifting into a forest scene. Ghost gave a small sigh as he looked down before blinking out of sight. "If you say so."

* * *

 

Brick tightened the screw that held down the chitin attached to his gauntlet as the soft glow from the monitors inside his ship illuminated the space, his latest grisly trophy from the previous weeks to add to his armor. He moved his arm, satisfied that it wasn't going to move then shifted his eyes to his hand. The servos whirred slightly as he rolled his fingers open and closed.

"Adam." A Ghost blinked into view, looking out from under it's tan shell.

"Yes sir?" Brick opened and closed his hand again.

"Is there any malfunction in my hand? I can't help the feeling something is off." A blue light filtered in the ship cabin as Adam scanned his hand, blinking off after a moment.

"No sir, it appears to be functioning normally." Brick gave a small nod, opening and closing his hand again.

"How about the rest of me?" The light appeared again, washing over his body as he seemed to feel a shiver across his metallic skin.

"Systems normal Sir, is there a problem I should be aware of?" Brick looked up to the blue eye of his Ghost, turning away back to the screen.

"No, must be my imagination. How long until we arrive?" His ghost gave a number, vanishing after he acknowledged it. His eyes blinked on and off, shifting on their servos to a picture taped to the side of the screen. He pulled it off, looking down at it. He was sitting stoically, mustering as much emotion as he could manage as Sonya sat on his lap smiling up at the camera. She and taken the shot as it was a little too close and her arm was up to the side of the shot. He only had a few moments with her as they met on the tower landing, her arms wrapped around him as they spoke quietly off in a corner. She had placed a kiss on his jaw before vanishing into the lift, and absent-mindedly he thought he felt it, placing his metallic fingers to the spot.

He didn't have a heart, not like a human anyways, but he could still feel. Somewhere in his head, in what he assumed to be some kind of wiring and circuitry, there tugged a consciousness that perhaps he wasn't fully like this. Not in the past at least. If anything, perhaps there was some truth to some of the moments when he would enter a resting mode and allow himself the time to compile the day and manage the happenings of the time, and in turn see things he couldn't explain. Sonya had jokingly said he was probably dreaming when he expressed it, but as far as he knew, he couldn't dream. No Exo could…or could they?

Most of the Exo seemed to place themselves in another group from those in the tower, away from organics as it were. They may work together, socialize, but at the end of the day an Exo didn't need to eat. They didn't need to breath, to drink, nor dispose of any waste as organics did. All they needed was some regular maintenance, and they could keep going far beyond when those around them were dead and gone. That's all, Exos didn't dream. The logical part of his brain agreed. But then how would he explain Sonya? The woman was organic, not mechanical. He would watch her eat, sleep, or bathe and still bring no real connection to the pair.

Except love.

Deep in his brain, was the emotion of love, and he felt it for Sonya. Just as she in turn felt it for him, a machine. It was curious to see how the organic brain rationalized the idea, in the end however it seemed that he could do it just the same. The correlation to a Positronic brain and an organics in terms of the level of complex thoughts could not be overlooked, or ignored. Just as easily, or difficult as the logic of what seemed to be a program wrapped it's head around the problem, or rather the situation of his being in love. In the end, he simply chose to let it happen. They couldn't reproduce, he could grant her no child, but she didn't mind. There was a pleasure in her company, and in her motions both in and out of armor. He really had become quite smitten with her, and it had affected him greatly. Logic of the machine said it shouldn't happen due to there being no chemical reactions in his body, it was overwritten when they would sit together and she would lean upon him. For all the inorganic components that comprised him, he felt like he could be human when near her.

In the end, that was good enough for him.

A notice flashed on his monitor and he replaced the photo on the edge, tapping a few buttons before taking control of the ship with programmed movements. His team was going in hot, right into a firefight to back up another fire team on the ground. His swept back helmet assembled itself over his head, the visor becoming his eyes as he gained a wider sense of vision from the integrated optics. Adam appeared again in front of him, and he gave the Ghost a nod. Screeches from the thralls met his audio sensors as he literally dropped down from the sky, electricity crackling around him before bursting into a blast around him and the wave of thralls that were about to overrun the other fire team. His fist ground into the dirt from the crater he made as he looked up, pulling a shotgun from behind his back and firing it into the face of another thrall as it leapt at him.

"Glad you all could make it, saved our asses right there." A voice crackled from his comm as he punched another thrall, shattering it's jaw and a good portion of it's head. The rest of his team was falling back, the two warlocks assigned to him hurling their grenades as two dark vortexes opened in the space before him, sucking in several screeching thralls and pulling a Knight slowly towards it before collapsing in on themselves and taking out a chunk of the Knight's shoulder. Two well placed sniper rounds echoed behind him, making the Knight fall, it's hulking form disintegrating to ash. Brick trotted back, his back hitting the side of a concrete wall as he glanced back out towards what used to be a stadium like field.

"How is your team holding up?" The Titan beside him changed clips in his auto rifle as he ducked behind the cover again.

"Harry's hurt pretty bad, he needs to get an evac out. Problem lies out there where you just came in, behind those thralls and Acolytes are a pair of Wizards. There, see em?" Brick followed the Titan's finger out to the floating creatures behind the line of Hive clustered around an opening in a dark black spire. He gave a nod as he ducked back to avid the fire from the Acolytes. His mind had been forming a plan since he touched down, with all the variables that he could foresee -and the few that he knew some would overlook- Brick's strategy came to light.

"Alright then, here's what we'll do. I'm going to need that sniper rifle…"

* * *

"Targets identified, coming in five-hundred twenty-two meters from the North-East. Count eight." 

 

 The barrel of the sniper rifle swung gracefully a few inches to the right, the incoming Thralls lighting up in the visual field that was being fed into his mind. A twitch to correct an error and the trigger was pulled. The screams coming from the Hive Thralls echoed across the old stadium field, followed closely by a steady stream of gunfire. Harry was stable, slumped up in a corner as the rest of his fire-team- along with the two Warlocks that were assigned to Brick- were busy ensuring that he remained alive.

 

"You missed one." The sound of the bolt locking into place was quickly followed by another gunshot. "Never mind."

 

"Adam what's the E.T.A. on the reinforcements?" The whir of his ghost's shell was drowned out by the sound of battle, another resonating grenade of void energy bursting to life to drag the Hive around it back into the darkness.

 

"Approximately two minutes sir." A roar echoed from within the dark spire of the hive ship towering over the ground, followed by another. 

 

"Oh hell, that doesn't sound good." The Titan next to him cursed. Brick zoomed in on the entrance the Hive were fighting from with the optics of the sniper rifle in his hands. Within the black, partially illuminated by the sickly pale green glow of the Hive ship was a hulking figure, burning violet lights writhing under a mass of pale milky flesh that would be the face as it's fanged maw hung open. A roar escaped the Ogre's mouth as it was dragged out with chains by two Acolytes, the chains that loosely held it's wrists bound snapping as it lashed out at one of the escorts. The Acolyte flew several meters from the beast, landing within the battlefield with a dry crunch of chitin.

 

"Well, today just keeps getting better." Ridley muttered across the comm link, reloading her pulse rifle as a rocket launcher phased into existence from particles of light and into the arms of the Titan beside Brick.

 

"Well, at least you came prepared." Brick muttered to the Titan, a shake of the head was his reply.

 

"I wish, only have three rounds on me. We'll be lucky if even one goes down." Brick felt as though a frown was tugging at his mouth as the second Ogre was led out beside it's rampaging brother. A dark whisper floating over the battlefield as a Wizard floated behind it, the violet mass of eyes behind the Ogre's skin rolling and pushing at the milky flesh as it looked down at them. Calculated odds of survival stands at roughly forty-three percent. It could rise if they weren't defending a downed man. Brick shook his head slightly, that's not what would happen if it were him. If it was Sonya.

 

 Violet beams of energy peppered the debris the guardians took cover behind as the undulating mass of flesh on the Ogre's face shone brightly, a roar ripping from it's maw as it began to walk forward. It's brother seemed to hear the call, abandoning the Acolytes it was attacking in favor of lumbering forward. It barreled past it's brother as the spell ended and the peppering of energy ceased. There was a curse and a 'Whoomph' as the rocket launcher registered to his audio sensors. The impact of the rocket came a moment later as Brick rolled up to take a pot shot at the Ogre. Dully the thought of his eyes widening in shock as the bloodied arm of the Ogre colliding into the makeshift barricade of debris occurred in Brick's mind. Followed next by the sensation of being punched in the gut as he was knocked back by the force of a massive force ramming into the makeshift barricade of crumbled concrete. A ringing sounded in his audio sensors, high and steady as dust filled the air so thick that all he could pick up was white. Shouting and the fire of automatic and semi-automatic weapons filled the air a moment later, cutting through the ringing and the shock as he rolled away from a massive hand coming down to crush his chest.

 

 A piece of rebar was in his hand a moment later as Brick launched himself from the ground. The undulating mass of eyes under the milky white flesh rolled up to look at him, glowing brightly as he brought the rebar down into the face of the Ogre. The pained roar was followed by a peppering of energy bolts, chunks of concrete from what remained of the ceiling above him registering only slightly against Brick's armor while he leapt away from the angered Ogre. Brick rolled up next to a body, taking a moment to register the Titan who was next to him dead on the ground with his armor crushed into his chest. A thought brought up the H.U.D. in front of his eyes as he took count of the rest of his team. Harry was dead, reburied under the rubble. Ridley was trying to keep Deckard alive while the last of the Titan group- a kid no less- was straining under the gunfire and blasts of the other Ogre to keep his shield up and the others alive. Chance of survival: twenty-two point three percent. 

 

 Brick stood as the Ogre clawed at it's face to try removing the rebar he had impaled it with. The situation had went from bad to worse in the blink of an eye, and there was nothing he could do against it. The rage built it self up in his chest, a burning sensation that Brick never really felt before, but it didn't matter. There was one thing on his mind, and that was to drive that rebar deeper into the Ogre's head, and take it down. A roar of rage left Brick's throat as he rushed at the Ogre, calling on the Arc energy of the striker while jumping up onto the fallen concrete of the old shelter to give himself height. The sizzling of Arc energy erupted then, seeming to catch the air ablaze in righteous fire as he brought his fist down on the end of the rebar sticking out of the Ogre's face. The blast knocked him back as the Ogre stumbled with a pained roar. His hand was hurting, and Brick saw the warning display appear before him. Hand damaged sixty-four percent, he could barely move two fingers as the others were crumbled or hanging loose out of destroyed joints. His pinky and ring finger had been fused together by the blast of heat. Another roar as the Ogre regained it's balance, bleeding profusely from it's burnt and slightly charred face it charged Brick.

 

_'Sonya...'_

 

 A burst of fire and steel barreled past him, slamming itself into the Ogre's chest before erupting in an explosion. Then another, and another, before a cry of rage and a figure wielding a flaming hammer launched themselves over Brick's form.  The explosion of heat from the strike was the final blow that brought the Ogre to the ground, it's charred face and body crumbling to ash. Several other forms rushed past him then-Titans clad in gold and black- firing their guns or using their hammers to push back the Hive and save his team. Brick stood watching the wave of Titans bring down righteous fire upon the Hive, the shrill screeches of the abominations vanishing into the dust from whence they came.

 

"Light born from man, held aloft to conquer the darkness. It is always inspiring to see this determination spark aflame into the night." A Warlock clad in the self-same gold and black stepped up beside Brick, a flame held in his hand. Sun-Singer. His sleek helmet turned to Brick giving him a slow nod. "Well done, for an untrained neophyte to the ways of the sun."

 

"What happened?"

 

"You called on the righteous fire that helped to create this and many other worlds, and bring them to the light. I suspect it has to do with the proximity to the Traveler's Shield that has allowed you to tap into it's light as such." The Warlock turned to the wall of flame burning in the distance, Brick himself taking it in before looking down to his injured hand. Was this how Freya felt when she called on her own powers? The rush of heat, the strength and determination to stay alive. To protect. 

 

"And yet I was burned." The Warlock turned back to Brick, giving a look to his hand.

 

" The flame is a force of it's own, such is the power of life itself. With training and the proper tools, you could learn to wield this power as a Sun Breaker." The sound of thrusters firing alerted Brick to the ships appearing overhead, one a transport for the wounded or dead. Several other Titans and Warlocks materialized onto the field to secure the area as a trio of gold and black clad Titans were seen vanishing into the spire. 

 

"Osiris!" A woman called out- a Titan with a silver hammer upon her hip, glowing orange and yellow at the end of the head as though cooling- stepped up to the two with a pair of the gold and black Titans flanking her. "Does this one have the potential?"

 

"Perhaps, Ouros." Brick's jaw clamped shut at the names, Osiris turning to him as the commotion around him seemed to fade away. "Perhaps..."

 


	13. Sugar and Spikes

Ikora nodded to a tech as she took the data pad from an outstretched hand, glancing down at it before looking up to the others in the room. “Three more casualties from the front lines. It seems however that a group of Sun Breakers managed to break through in to another ship, they managed to dig in deep, deeper then we wished there may be.”

 

“I see.” Zavala replied with frustration in his voice as he ground his fist in to the table out of habit while an updated map materialized in front of them. “This is becoming more difficult by the day. Even with the relative safety of the Fire Line to provide us with a fall back point, it only exists on the surface. It won’t help us if the Hive decide to dig deeper in.”

 

“Which is why we are making this sun-bomb-thing, right? I mean, I don’t much understand the whole Warlock reasoning behind it, but I do understand blowing the Hive to hell.” Cayde-6 said with his two bits as he turned around a small black cube with several curved spikes protruding from the corners. “Digging the spikes though.”

 

“See! At least some one appreciates my genius.” Theodore exclaimed to Ikora as she gave a low groan and placed her fingers to her forehead.

 

“Don’t encourage him Cayde…”

 

“I’m just saying, they look good.” Cayde-6 shrugged as he set down the cube, “so, how do we go about lighting it up?”

 

 Ikora gave Theodore a look as he cleared his throat and picked up the cube himself: “Well you see we have to charge it from the Fire Line, and by we I mean my protege. She’s the one that made the new landmark out there in the Great Lake Expanse, I figure she needs to be the one to put the kick in this baby.”

 

“Are you sure she is capable of the level of concentration needed? If she fails, we may have something more then a simple wall before us.” Ikora asked with a look of concern. Theodore gave a nod of affirmation, he believed in Freya…at least, if he walked her through it he did. Hopefully things wouldn’t go south, and him end up as a pile of ash next to the hive. Ikora held his gaze for a moment before turning and giving a nod to Zavala. 

 

“Very well.” The Awoken Vanguard surveyed the group before him with a nod. “We’ll entrust you Guardian Maxwell with ensuring the charge is infused while we plan the incursion to set it off. As much as it pains me to admit, we should contact Ouros and her Sunbreakers to assist in the operation. Earth is in danger, and we need all the help we can get to burn the Hive from our home before it’s too late. Is Guardian Sinclair ready to mobilize?”

 

“I have Sophie tracking her down, don’t worry, she’ll be ready.” Theodore said with a hard look. Zavala gave a nod and looked at the map before him before glancing down at the data pad that Theodore had brought along with his strange creation, tabbing through it as he considered it. Orbital weapons satellites, hidden all this time out in the asteroid belt. As well as an orbital station…

 

“Alright then, you can leave as soon as you are ready. I’ll assign a guard detail just in case, we can’t be too careful” A murmur of acceptance made it’s way across the table as Zavala pressed a button on the pad before him, changing the map to a display of a large wheel like orbital station amidst asteroids.  “Now, about this station…”

——

“ Here you go Sugar.” Iris said as she handed over the mug of tea, a sweet floral smell coming from the steam. Lisette gave a nod of thanks, letting the warmth from the mug flow into her hands as she looked up at Iris. She got a smile in reply as Iris sat next to her on the single couch of the small living room and tucked her legs under her. “How’s the recovery going? Your little Spice was in just about every day for the past couple weeks before to pick up the pudding.”

 

 Spice? Lisette thought with a small frown, Freya, her brain managed to translate. She looked away slightly at the room. The apartment was small, but felt like a home with the items strewn about it. A door off to the side of the kitchen counter led to what she assumed was the bedroom, since Iris had entered it only to return in a casual one size too big shirt and a pair of small shorts. Lisette gave a shrug before the silence could carry on too far.

 

“I’m fine. It’s only a little sore at the moment, but otherwise the bones are stable.”

 

“That’s good, I was worried you know. When I heard what happened I wanted to come see you, but they don’t allow non-guardians in for social visits.” Iris replied as she looked down in to her own mug. “Not that it would have mattered, seemed like something big had happened anyway.”

 

“Something, you could say that…” Lisette twitched slightly as Iris placed a hand on her arm, and she looked up to meet the young woman’s worried expression. She looked away slightly, clutching at her mug before she spoke again. “Iris…do you think it’s wrong, to want a child? So much that you would do anything?”

 

“A child?” Iris asked with a startled tone, stammering slightly with the reply. “I-I guess not…unless you’re planning on kidnapping someone anytime soon…”

 

“No, nothing like that.” The slight grip Iris had on Lisette’s arm lessened as the young woman recovered from the initial shock of the question.

 

“Oh good…I mean I wasn’t thinking that you would…” Iris stopped herself mid babble as she looked at Lisette’s face. “Sugar, what’s the matter?”

 

 A word to Solomon, and the data pad was sitting in Iris’ lap, the tea set aside on a coffee table. Lisette had pulled up the relevant files, and the young woman’s eyes looked over the words before finding her way to a picture of Dr. Sinclair. Iris was silent for several moments, staring at the picture before she looked to Lisette.

 

“Is this your past? The one you been looking for?” Iris asked quietly, Lisette shook her head in irritation.

 

“I don’t know, it doesn’t look familiar. But still, the words that woman says, the things in her notes.”

 

“But this picture, it really looks like you. I mean sure you look a little younger, and your hair has a bit more white.” Iris said with a small smile as she held up and compared the picture and Lisette. “But it really looks like you. Even your name is pretty-“

 

“Then why can’t I remember it!” Lisette growled out as she stood suddenly from the couch, tea gracefully forgotten on the coffee table as opposed to in the wall where she wanted to throw something. Iris had jumped in her seat, following the Awoken woman as she prowled the small space like a large predator in a cage. “Why do I only feel fragments, feel parts that don’t make sense? What does this have to do with me at all? “

 

 Glowing blue eyes stared out the window where she came to a stop in her pacing, looking out in to the near empty street as a hand went to the side of the window. “I shouldn’t have taken her there…this never would have happened, none of it.”

 

“Sugar, What happened?” Iris said with worry in her voice, concern lining her face as she stood with the data pad in hand. “What happened a month ago? Why did Freya come in to the diner looking for pudding for two weeks straight? What Happened?”

 

“Nothing happened Iris.’ Lisette replied with a hiss, her arms wrapping around her waist without meaning to as she continued to stare out the window. Things were tumbling around in her head, thoughts of what happened at the old outpost, the old data, Freya and Iris..

 

“Don’t Lie! She said you were messed up bad Sugar, real bad!” Iris exclaimed, her face a mixture of frustration and concern. It drew Lisette from her thoughts enough to clamp them down back to her default.

 

“It’s part of the line of work, or did you forget I am a Guardian?” The awoken woman responded with a growl, turning to face Iris with a hard glare. Iris stiffened as though slapped, clutching the pad between her hands tightly.

 

“No..” She said softly, startling Lisette slightly, her mental preparedness shifting from solid as rock to loose as sand as she glanced at downcast blue eyes. Iris took a few moments before speaking again. “But you aren’t the one seeing someone they care about get hurt, and not be able to do anythin…”

 

“Iris-“

 

“Three years.” Iris cut off Lisette as she looked up with wet eyes. “Three years you have been coming to the diner, comin in after your missions, after trying to find something of yourself. It was important to you then, knowing who you were. You kept trying, kept comin back. Not many Guardians did.”

 

Lisette stood there mutely, unable to find the words as Iris continued on as she shook the pad in front of her with her hands at the woman.

 

“Do you know how many gave up? I’ve seen em Sugar! I’ve seen em full of ambition one day, then the next they just walk by, silent as the grave. The only thing chattering on was their ghosts. But you never gave up, you kept going out and lookin, kept coming back.

 

“And now?” She waved the pad for emphasis, “Now with it staring you right in the eye you wanna just let it go!? You can’t turn back now!”

 

“It’s not that simple!” Lisette replied with a shout, Iris hopping back slightly in surprise but standing firm after, even with the slight shaking. Lisette lowered her voice, her jittery hand replacing the knife she had been toying with on her side in to it’s sheath. “It’s not that simple, Iris. It may be me, it’s possible, but how can someone like that continue to exist? Why would they be allowed a second chance…?”

 

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” Iris replied softly after a moment, stepping up slowly as she placed a hand on Lisette’s arm, squeezing it gently as a blue hand took up the other side of the data pad. The image of Dr. Sinclair in a lab coat holding a bundled child with black hair in her arms stared up at her, the Doctor looking down at the child with a warm smile on her face. “Even you, Lisette.”

 

 Warmth ran down her cheek as Lisette thought of the images, of the memories she had when she was in the med bay. How could someone like her deserve a second chance, knowing now what she did in the past? Would there be cries in the street, demanding her blood? What of Freya? Arms pulled her close as her view of the pad was obscured slightly by Iris’ frame. 

 

“You aren’t alone, I’m here for you, I always have been.” Iris said, holding Lisette close as the pad dipped down and her free hand found it’s way around Iris’ waist. 

 

“Iris..” Her voice was soft, heavy as she spoke at the younger woman’s ear while Iris buried her face in Lisette’s neck and gripped her tighter.

 

“You aren’t alone, never. I’m always going to be here for you, you can’t stop me.” Iris’ muffled voice came at her ear, and Lisette smiled  gently before pressing her lip’s to the young woman’s neck. A languid toss sent the pad to a nearby arm chair, the picture staring up to the ceiling as Lisette glanced at it one more time before she pulled Iris away from her slightly. A hand went to Iris’ wet cheek and Lisette smiled as her own tears fell.

 

“I know, Iris…That’s what I always loved about you.” Lisette replied softly, leaning back in to capture Iris’ lips with her own.

 

——

 

Doctor Gregory Mendez stared down at the pad in his hand, a tired hand rubbing the sleep out of his eyes after a moment as he considered the report in front of him. More Guardians had died, of course that was never really the case in the end. Their ghosts had survived, and so in turn the Guardians in question technically had too. Except, their memory. 

 

 It was true, so long as a Guardian was teamed with a Ghost, they would be able to use the Light given by the Traveler to replenish their broken bodies and heal their wounds, but it came at a cost it seemed. Gregory had noticed it when he was younger, back when he had just finished learning medicine from the old and new age. Guardians revived by Ghosts eventually lost who they were, and it seemed like the Ghost became the guardian instead, acting and talking for them as though there was some kind of symbiotic connection. Of course the first person to talk to was his own Ghost, Virgil.

 

_“I do know there is a neural connection protocol within me, its a processing sub-routine that integrates a Ghost with their Guardian more completely. I believe it is meant to allow better communication between Ghost and Guardian.”_  

 

 Virgil had stated, staring at Gregory at the time with his blue eye as his shell clicked and spun around the central sphere. When asked further, it seemed that the sub-routine only really took effect the more times the Ghost had to revive the Guardian, since a full revival tended to require a kind of re-sequencing of biometric data the Ghost had of the Guardian. Essentially rebuilding the Guardian down to the basest of DNA in order to make it so the more severe wounds that caused death never happened, but it was always imperfect, like making a copy of a copy nothing was ever correctly reimagined and because of this the sub-routine would fill in the gaps. It only started making sense when he was given missions and watched how reckless some Guardians were with their lives.

 

_“The Traveler made us immortal, personally that means I can take this here grenade and shove it down that Archon’s throat, watch…”_

 

 Gregory grimaced at the thought and reached for the cup of lukewarm coffee beside him on the counter. The guardian in question was far older then he at the time, had seen and done more during the time it took for Gregory to even first meet Virgil. Now when he sees the Hunter there is still acknowledgement, but it’s not his mouth that moves, at least not to produce sound, it’s his ghost. Then there were the Reborn Guardians, the ones with fragmented pasts. They had no real data, no synaptic copy to go on, so how do they even know who they are? Maybe the Awoken have it right and the soul remembers the body, if that were so then the Traveler must have made copies of all souls in the past, then made the Ghosts in it’s dying moments before it’s slumber to find those who were suitable to become Guardians. It was the only explanation he could think of, as he doubted someone like Theodore could come back with such a personality and not have something of the original in him.

 

 Granted, Theodore wasn’t just old bones when he was found, Sophie had confirmed that for him when asked one day in the past. Apparently, even with the slight terraforming, Mars’ sand was incredibly good at preserving bodies. Yet there was someone else, someone recent whom he had met that apparently came from nothing, yet had a memory. Or what she though were her memories. Had her Ghost simply overwritten them? If so, then why…

 

“Working hard or hardly working?” A heavy hand clapped him on the back, and Gregory was taken out of his mind abruptly as he looked up in to the glowing blue eyes of Cayde-6. A quick glance at the medical level around him and nothing seemed out fo place. He returned his gaze to Cayde who held a hand up to his mouth like he was holding a cigar. “What’s up Doc?”

 

“Just going over reports. How can I help you Cayde?” Gregory said with a friendly, if tired, tone. Cayde dropped his hand and gave a shrug as he picked up a small stress ball one of the nurses had left at the station he was seated at, leaning against the desk as he began to play with it.

 

“Eh, Zavala kicked me out of the strategy meeting we were having so I decided to come see my favorite medical professional.” Cayde tried, Gregory looking unimpressed. The Exo gave a couple squeezes of the stress ball. “Well that’s partly true, but there’s something else actually that the Vanguard needs your opinion on, and I think you know what I’m talking about. At least, as far as your buddy Maxwell is.”

 

Gregory gave a groan and put his head on his hand as he looked up at Cayde-6. “What did he volunteer me for this time?”

 

“Nothing crazy, I’m sure. Zavala just wants you and a team to go and check out that station you guys found in the logs brought back from Rasputin, of which I don’t know why Maxie didn’t just ask me about it, I mean it’s not like I don’t know, maybe I kinda know a way to talk to Rasputin- Look that’s not the point. “ Cayde cut himself off from his rambling as he pointed the stress ball at Gregory. “Thing has some biomedical lab, so the Vanguard, mainly Zavala and Ikora, want you to take a team and see if it can be of use to our current situation.”

 

 To emphasize, Cayde squeezed the stress ball twice in front of Gregory. “Who am I taking?”

 

“Anyone you can scrounge up, sooner rather then later, something big is gunna happen over at the Line, and well, there are spikes involved. And probably a lot of fire.” Cayde said as he resumed examining the stress ball, turning on heel towards the lifts. Gregory looked confused, calling out to the Exo.

 

“Spikes?”

 

“Yeah, pretty metal if you ask me, and I’m made of it.” Cayde said before disappearing in the lift and leaving Gregory confused slightly as he asked Virgil to see if Regent and the twins were available. A nurse sat down next to him as he finished up, looking confused at the desk before looking at him.

 

“Doctor, do you know where the stress ball went?”


End file.
